Oblivious
by house-elf7
Summary: Rose spent years pining after her best friend, but after getting humiliated in front of the entire school at a ball she decided to try and move on. But fate wasn't giving up that easily.
1. Rubber Duck

**Chapter 1- Rubber Duck****  
>Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise. It belongs to J.K. Rowling. <strong>

"What exactly is the function of a rubber duck?" Rose blurted. She couldn't bear the silence any longer. She was sitting in the library sitting next to her best friend Scorpius Malfoy attempting to complete her Charms homework but she couldn't get the upcoming ball off her mind. It was to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Dark Lord's downfall. "My granddad always asks that and, well, I was wondering whether you'd know."

Rose blushed and inwardly scolded herself for being so lame.

"I… what's a rubber duck?" asked Scorpius, utterly befuddled.

"Doesn't matter," she mumbled, turning back to her parchment.

After a few minutes of reading the same sentence and not taking anything in, Rose said, "The ball's coming up soon."

"Indeed it is, on May 2nd, which is three days away," agreed Scorpius, not looking up from his book.

Rose was bursting to ask whether he was going with anyone but refrained from doing so. She was far too stubborn to ask. She needn't have worried, though, because he said-

"Are you going with anyone?" He finally looked up at her.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "No. Are you?"

"Nope, not yet," he answered, giving her a lopsided grin.

The butterflies flew ecstatically around her stomach.

Rose flashed him her most (hopefully) charming smile and waited for him to ask her to go together, but it never happened. He muttered something about promising Al he'd play Quidditch and left the library. Rose let out a long breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and folded her arms across her chest.

_Stupid boys_, she thought, packing her books in her bag and storming out of the library in search of her cousin Dominique. _Completely_ _oblivious._

_3 Days Later _

"Rose, get up," said Dom, poking her sleeping cousin.

"No," groaned Rose, covering her face with her pillow. "It's too early.

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon, for Merlin's sake!" Dom cried. "The ball is in three hours. I need to get you all dolled up. You must get out of bed. NOW!"

Rose didn't move an inch.

Dom jumped on top of Rose and tickled her until she unwillingly rolled out of bed.

"Don't remind me," grumbled Lizzie, Rose's roommate. "Eugene Clarke asked me to go with him yesterday."

Eugene was a clumsy Hufflepuff whose spectacles always fell halfway down his abnormally large nose. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't a very popular boy.

Dom snorted. "Poor fella. He's never gonna get a date."

"I agreed to go with him."

"You WHAT?" shrieked Dom, staring at Lizzie in disbelief. "But, Lizzie, that's like social suicide!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I felt bad for him, okay? I wasn't about to reject him in front of the entire potions class. That's just mean."

"At least you've got a date, Lizzie," Rose said. "I don't want to go to the stupid ball! I really believed Scorp would ask me. I'll be the only girl without a date. A loner. A loser. An outcast."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Rosie," grinned Dom. "You may just find yourself with a handsome prince after all."

Rose had no idea what her crazy cousin was going on about, but asked no questions. She found her life was easier that way.

A few hours and several beauty charms later Rose found herself staring at the mirror in her dormitory in awe. The stranger staring back at her was beautiful. She was wearing a simple red dress and her unusually silky crimson hair flowed down in soft waves.

"What do you think?" Dom asked with twinkling topaz eyes.

"I… you've done a great job, Dom, thank you!"

Dom smiled smugly. She looked lovely as ever in a sparkly silver-grey dress and her long blonde hair was tied back in an elegant bun with a few ringlets hanging down her face. Linking arms, they set off together towards the Great Hall.

They found the Scamander twins dressed in smart black dress robes waiting for them in the entrance hall.

"You look amazing, Dom," grinned Lorcan, taking Dom's hand.

"You too, Rose," smiled Lysander offering his own hand. Rose had spoken to him a couple of times in the past, but she wouldn't class him as a good friend.

She looked at Dom questioningly who said, "This, Rosie, is the prince I promised you." Rose made a mental note to thank her later.

Lysander blushed and ran his hands through his sandy blonde hair. Rose took his hand and they entered the Great Hall.

The room was full of people wearing bright colours instead of their dreary black school robes. The beat of the music instantly pulsed through her. She recognised her all-time favourite song, even if it was decades old, 'Do the Hippogriff' by the _Weird Sisters_.

"Care to dance?" asked Lysander.

Rose agreed and let him lead her to the dance floor. She couldn't help but notice Scorpius dancing nearby with Poppy Parkinson. She tried not to the notice how good he looked in his green robes, but failed miserably. She caught his eye but he quickly looked away.

Poppy, however, smirked at her and said loudly," Look, Scorpy, Weasley's here with loony Lysander. I can't think of a more perfect couple!" Rose tried to ignore Poppy's cackles but felt her face heat up. How did _she_end up going to the Ball with someone like Scorpius?

"Shut up, Parkinson," said Rose, upset at how Scorpius was pretending she wasn't there.

"Ignore her, Rose," Lysander whispered into her ear. He led her to the other side of the dance floor away from malicious Slytherins.

"So, how come you and Malfoy didn't come together?" asked Lysander. "Everyone thought you would."

"Oh," replied Rose, surprised, "well, he never asked me."

Lysander smiled. "His loss." Rose smiled back sadly.

"I don't like him in _that_way, anyhow," she lied.

After a few minutes of silence, Lysander said, "There're many nargles here tonight, aren't there?"

"What's a nargle?" asked Rose.

"You don't know what a nargle is?" said Lysander, outraged. He launched into a long and complicated explanation.

After dancing to five songs, Rose began to get thirsty. She sat at an empty table while Lysander went to get drinks and after a few seconds she was joined by Lizzie.

"Why did I agree to go with Eugene, again?" she sighed. "He has stood on my feet so many times; I swear all my toes are broken."

Rose patted Lizzie's arm consolingly and held back a giggle.

"Where is he, anyway?" she asked.

"Staring at Dom. no doubt," Lizzie replied. "He won't take his eyes off her, bloody part Veela. I managed to sneak away while he was too busy drooling to notice. So, you and Lysander Scamander, eh?" Lizzie wiggled her eyebrows.

"He's really nice," Rose said quietly.

"But…"

"There are no buts," Rose insisted. "I came here with Lysander and I'm having a good time. The end."

Scorpius walked past their table with Poppy clinging on to his arm like a lost puppy and completely ignored them. Rose gritted her teeth.

"You should've just asked him, Rose," said Lizzie, staring after Scorpius.

"No way!" Rose hissed. "_He_ should've asked _me_." She slouched in her chair and crossed her arms.

Eugene and Lysander appeared at the table within seconds of each other. Rose downed her Butterbeer in one. A short while later Professor Flitwick quietened everyone down and made a speech about the importance of house unity and how everyone worked together during the Battle of Hogwarts to defeat the dark forces. Rose wasn't really listening; she had heard a similar speech multiple times before from her parents. She was far too busy glaring at Scorpius' and Poppy's interlocked hands to pay much attention. At the end of the speech she resumed dancing with Lysander.

An hour later, Rose was red in the face from dancing and drifted to the nearest table for a rest. Lysander went to get drinks again. Only once she sat down next to her cousin Albus did she realise Scorpius was sitting there beside him.

"Hi, Rosie," said Al. Scorpius didn't say anything.

"Wow, Al, your hair is… neat! Tidy! Not wild at all!" said an astonished Rose, pinching herself to check she wasn't dreaming. Al had inherited his father's hair so it was generally rather scruffy.

He patted his hair self-consciously. "It looks okay, doesn't it?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically. "You should have it like that more often. I'm sure Scarlett Bell would notice you if you did."

"W-why would I want her to notice me?" blushed Al. "And I am never doing this to my hair ever again. I used five bottles of Sleekeazy's hair potion to get it like this, and it feels like my scalp is on fire. I don't know how you girls cope."

"Come on Al, I saw you gaze at her adoringly during dinner yesterday."

Al flushed crimson. "Did not," he mumbled.

Rose rolled her eyes and let the subject drop.

"It's hot, isn't it?" said Rose, pressing an icy empty bottle of Butterbeer to her burning face. "Ly's just gone to the bathroom, and then he's going to get us some drinks."

Scorpius looked at her critically.

"I didn't know you were coming with Scamander," he said coldly.

"I didn't know you were coming with Parkinson," she shot back.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes.

"She asked me a few days ago, once I left the library," he said. "Not that it's any of your business."

Poppy walked up to Scorpius and tried to snuggle into his arm, but he pushed her away.

"What's up with you?" asked Rose.

"Nothing's up with me, Weasley, you're just being particularly annoying today," snarled Scorpius, rising from his seat. Rose was taken aback; he had never called her by her surname before. Rose stood up as well and matched his height. She silently thanked her dad for being so tall and passing on the genes.

"Guys, calm down," said Al timidly. An angry Rose and an angry Scorpius was not something he wanted to witness.

"Stay out of this, Al!" shouted Scorpius. Al promptly shut his mouth.

"You know what? You and Parkinson deserve each other," spat Rose. "Why are you acting like such a swine?"

"Me?" yelled Scorpius. "You're the one who came to the Ball with that tosser!"

Rose stared at him incredulously. "Keep your voice down, people are staring!" she whispered furiously. A large gathering of students had stopped dancing and crowded around them. "And for your information, _Malfoy_, Lysander is a very nice man. Shame the same can't be said for you. You're just a jealous little boy!"

Scorpius went scarlet. His eyes flashed with anger. He looked like he wanted to scream in her face but took several calming breaths before answering, "You are the most infuriating girl I have ever met, Rose Weasley."

"The feeling's mutual," muttered Rose.

They glared at each other for a few moments, breathing heavily, until Rose cried, "Next time there's a ball going on, maybe you should ask me to go with you before someone else gets the chance!"

Scorpius stared at her gormlessly. "I – well – I -"

Rose turned on her heel and ran out of the Great Hall in tears. She passed Lysander on the way out of the door who said, "Rose? What's wrong?"

She hardly heard him and stormed up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. She kicked off her shoes and flopped down onto her bed, still sobbing.  
><em><br>Well,_ she thought sourly, _tonight could have gone better.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hi! This is my first fan fiction so I'd really appreciate reviews to tell me how I did. Thanks!  
>By the way, this story is also posted on HPFF. :) <strong>


	2. Poopcorn

**Chapter 2- Poopcorn**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise : ) **

Rose spent the next seven days after the ball wandering glumly around the school grounds.

Whenever her friends offered to walk with her she waved them off and said she needed some time alone to think. The ball kept replaying itself in her mind. It was meant to be the best night ever, but turned out to be a complete and utter disaster. Rose and Lysander had spoken briefly since but it was awkward and neither knew what to say. She hadn't talked to Scorpius since that horrific night and didn't plan on doing so any time soon. She was still angry at him for being such a jerk and was determined that he would be the one to apologize first.

However, even though she would never admit it to anyone, she missed his company terribly. They had been best friends for years and he could make her laugh like no one else could. Rose loved Dom and Lizzie but her life just wasn't the same without Scorpius in it.

"Chin up, Rose," said Dom while curling her blonde hair around her wand in front of the mirror. It was Monday morning and the girls were getting ready for the day ahead. "You can't mope around forever. Get over Malfoy, he's not worth it. I swear I'm gonna hex that idiot one of these days for causing you so much grief!"

Rose smiled as she remembered the day after the ball. She had explained what had happened and Dom looked furious and threatened to 'kill that little ferret'. She searched the grounds for hours but couldn't find him. However, in Charms with the Slytherins, Dom stormed up to Scorpius and punched him all over as hard as she could which, unfortunately, had very little affect on the muscular Quidditch player. He looked down at her, shaking a little, as she yelled profanities at him in French. Rose couldn't blame him for being scared; Dom could be very intimidating when she wanted to be. She pulled out her wand, eyes twitching, and pointed it at his throat just as Professor Flitwick toddled in and broke them up before any real damage could be done. Dom thought the detention was worth it because it had cheered Rose up a little.

As they walked to the Great Hall for breakfast, Rose sneaked a glance over to the Slytherin table and instantly regretted it; Scorpius was looking right at her with Poppy practically sitting on his lap. She thought his grey eyes looked almost pleading as his gaze bore into hers. She noticed Al sitting beside him and smiled before looking away and taking a place next to one of her best friends, Lizzie Martin, at the Gryffindor table.

"Morning, Rosie!" she chirped happily as she poured syrup over her pancakes. "How are you on this fine spring morning?"

Rose raised her eyebrows at Lizzie. "I'm just dandy. What's got you so happy?"

"Can't a girl be happy without a particular reason?" replied Lizzie. Rose shrugged and reached for her pumpkin juice, but before she could drink it, Lizzie added, "I finally got the strength to tell Eugene to leave me alone. Seriously, Rose, he sat next to me in Herbology the other day and he doesn't even take it! Anyway, I told him that if he didn't stop bothering me, I'd steal his entire Chocolate Frog Card collection and I haven't seen him since. Great, huh? I don't even feel bad like I thought I would."

Lizzie beamed and looked like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Rose smiled at her friend but, the truth was, she wasn't really paying attention. She was staring at the blonde boy across the hall who looked bored while Poppy babbled on and on, probably about the latest hair styles as seen in Witch Weekly or something, and wondered what would have happened if only Scorpius had asked her to the ball.

Twenty minutes later, Lizzie went to her Care of Magical Creatures class as Rose and Dom headed to Muggle Studies. This was one of her favourite lessons as Muggles fascinated her, although the Professor was completely barmy.

"You don't mind if I sit by Ethan today, do you? I promised him I would," said Dom as they walked into the classroom. Ethan Hill was Dom's latest boyfriend, who happened to play Keeper on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. She refused to date anyone who wasn't involved in the sport in some way or another, which was why she had ended it with Lorcan Scamander a few days earlier. He had been the Quidditch commentator for a while until he recently decided that with studying for the N.E.W.T.s and everything, he just didn't have the time. The poor boy didn't know what he had coming.

Rose grudgingly agreed and sat at an empty double desk at the back of the room. The room was nearly full. A lot of people opted to take Muggle Studies these days, since most of the prejudice against Muggles died along with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Wright, swept into the room wearing bright orange robes and a Muggle Coca-Cola cap. The students were not too shocked by this as last lesson he was wearing a sombrero. As he called the register a few minutes into the lesson, a Ravenclaw boy Rose recognised as Fabian Foster entered the classroom looking a little flustered. He was renowned for being one of the smartest and best looking in his year. He pushed his chestnut hair out of his brown eyes as he apologized profusely to the Professor who said, "Don't let it happen again, little boy," with a wink and told him to take a seat.

Fabian had a quick look around the classroom and realised there was a free seat beside Rose.

"Can I sit here?" he whispered, placing his bag on the desk.

"Sure," she nodded, and he smiled at her. Rose thought his politeness was cute. She turned her head to look at Dom who winked and mouthed, "You can thank me later." Rose grinned and turned back to the front.

"Today we will be looking at Muggle-made machines. On your desks, you will see a contraption which allows Muggles to make a food which they call 'popcorn'," said Professor Wright. He swished his wand and suddenly a little machine appeared in front of everyone and he passed a few bags of popcorn around the class for them to try. "Popcorn is a delicious snack generally consumed while watching movies, which we studied last term if you remember."

Rose couldn't imagine how Muggles got on without magic. She looked at Fabian who seemed mesmerized by the strange little machine.

"Now I would like you all to make your own popcorn using this popcorn maker," said the Professor. "The method on the board will help."

Rose followed the instructions and started making popcorn. When it started making popping noises she squealed in fright.

"M- my p- poopcorn! It's exploding!" she shrieked.

Fabian laughed. "It says on the board that it's supposed to do that. By the way, it's called popcorn, not poopcorn." He laughed harder.

Rose turned crimson. "What kind of food explodes? That is just plain ridiculous."

After a few minutes of letting the students play around with it, Professor Wright said, "Please read page 197 and answer questions one to four."

Bertie McGee, a Gryffindor boy, raised his hand and asked, "Professor, could we work in pairs?" Professor Wright looked at Bertie and saw that he was sitting next to a pretty brunette. With an audacious smile and wiggling eyebrows, he said, "You may work with a partner."

Fabian and Rose glanced at each other and he smiled at her again. Her stomach did a weird flip and she tried to compose her face into a sophisticated and charming smile. She saw Dom give her the thumbs up out of the corner of her eye.

Rose rummaged through her bag for her textbook but realised she had left it in her dormitory. She slapped herself- mentally, of course- before turning to Fabian.

"Can I share your book?" she whispered.

He nodded and placed the book between them. Rose scooted her chair a little closer to his to have a better view of the book and tried to control her face from heating up. She tried to read the text but found she couldn't concentrate. His smell of cologne was very distracting.

Did she like Fabian? He sure was making her insides feel funny just by sitting there, resting his face in his hand while reading a book. She had to fight the urge to reach out and stroke back the fringe that had fallen into his eyes.

But what about Scorpius? Rose wasn't sure how she felt about him anymore. He had really ruined her night at the ball. Why did he have to act so immature? He seemed to really dislike Lysander, and Rose wasn't sure if that was because he didn't like him personally or whether it was because he was her date. But she had given Scorpius so many chances to ask her to go together, and he ran off at every given opportunity.

_Gah_, she thought, _boys are so confusing._

"Rose? Rose, are you there?" asked Fabian, waving his hands in front of her face. "I said, what do you think about question one?"

"Oh, err, sorry," she blushed. "I-I don't know, I haven't been concentrating. Wait, how do you know my name?"

Fabian looked at her, surprised. "You're Rose Weasley, daughter of two thirds of the Golden Trio," he laughed. "Everyone knows your name."

Rose turned an attractive shade of red so that her face matched her hair.  
>"Oh, well, I wouldn't say <em>everyone<em>," she mumbled, covering her face with her hair.

Fabian laughed again. Rose thought he had a nice laugh.

"It must be annoying, having everyone know who you are because of your parents and not yourself," he said after a short pause in which Rose tried to discreetly fan herself and get her face to return to its normal colour.

"Yeah, but you get used to it after a while," she replied. "I have a little brother and plenty of cousins to go through it all with as well, and that helps a lot."

Fabian nodded thoughtfully. "I guess that's why you're so close with the rest of the Weasleys and Potters?"

Rose smiled. "Yeah, our parents were all friends with each other when they were younger. My dad's best friends with the Potter's dad- that's why we spend so much time with them over the holidays."

"So, are you close with Scorpius Malfoy too, then?" Fabian asked, peering at her curiously. Rose had completely forgotten all about Scorpius and what he had done to her a week ago. All of those memories came flooding back.

She looked away and was grateful for the teacher for interrupting, "Alright, class. For homework, I would like two sides of parchment on the use of Popcorn machines in for Wednesday. Thank you, you may leave when you are ready." He then abruptly dashed out of the room, leaving behind a pack of stick-on moustaches on his desk.

As they packed their bags Rose said, "He's a bit weird, that Professor Wright, isn't he?"

"Just a bit," Fabian agreed, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"I suppose you have to be a bit loony to be a Muggle Studies teacher in the first place."

Fabian gasped. "Hey, I've always wanted to be a Muggles Studies Professor!"

Rose, horrified, went pink. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it, Rose, I was only kidding," Fabian chuckled. Rose cleared her throat and nervously joined in the laughter.

"You coming, Fabe?" called one of his Ravenclaw friends by the door.

"Nah, I'll catch you later, Roy," Fabian replied hanging back with Rose. His friend shrugged and sauntered down the corridor.

"Why were you late to class, anyway?" asked Rose as they left the classroom together.

"Well, you see… that's a very good question… there's a good reason for it, you know…"

Rose raised her eyebrows and smiled up at him.

Fabian sighed. "I overslept."

Rose laughed. "How come?"

"Well, I was up late last night doing-"

Rose never got to find out what Fabian was doing last night, because as they turned a corner they crashed straight into a gang of Slytherins. Rose's least favourite group of Slytherins, to be exact. Her smile slowly slipped off her face.

At the front of the group stood Poppy Parkinson with her perfect little nose stuck high in the air next to Abigail Millington, a simple blonde girl who cared about nothing but boys and makeup, and on her other side stood Elie Martin, Lizzie's twin sister. Although the girls were identical, their personalities were nothing alike. While Lizzie was interested in animals and nature, Elie enjoyed partying and making people feel bad about themselves. Rose couldn't believe two people so completely different could be born into the same family.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley, don't want to bash that ugly face of yours and make it even more hideous, do you?" sneered Poppy. Abigail and Elie burst into high-pitched giggles that made Rose's ears ache.

"Go to hell, Parkinson," said Rose. She was in a fairly good mood- the best she had felt all week, in fact- and she was not about to let Parkinson ruin that.

"Why don't you, Weasley?" Poppy snarled.

Rose rolled her eyes and tried to walk past them but the army of Slytherins created a barrier and wouldn't let her pass.

"So, got yourself yet another boyfriend, have you?" spat Elie. "You sure do move on fast."

"Yes, everyone saw how you were all over Scamander at the ball," added Abigail while batting her eyelashes pathetically at Fabian.

"I was not!" cried Rose, glancing up at Fabian nervously. "Lysander and I are just friends, anyway!"

"That's not what we saw," giggled Abigail nastily.

"Oh, shut up," said Rose, balling her hands up into fists. "You know what, the world would be such a happier place without you stupid Slytherins. I wish you all would just get a goddamn life and stop harassing people out of pure jealousy."

"What did you say, Weasley?" said a tall boy from behind Poppy- he was flanked on either side by more boys and Rose noticed Scorpius and Al for the first time.

_Why the hell are they friends with these horrible people? _she thought.

"I said, what did you say?" he repeated louder, stepping forwards towards her and glaring down at her with a menacing look.

Rose gulped and felt extremely intimidated, however much she tried not to be. She subconsciously leaned towards Fabian until their hands touched, and she was about to jerk it away when he grabbed her hand in his and held it tight. His hand was strong yet soft. She suddenly felt much more secure as little elves did the conga in her stomach and her heart went wild. She tried not to faint as she stared at the Slytherin boy. She knew it was neither the time nor the place, but Rose could not believe she was holding hands with Fabian Foster, in the middle of the corridor- in broad daylight! She couldn't wait to tell Dom.

"Don't ignore me, Weasley. WHAT DID YOU SAY?" the Slytherin boy practically roared in her face. Rose gasped. She wanted to punch him and run away at the same time, which left her glued to the floor, frozen.

"Back off!" shouted Al, Scorpius and Fabian at the same time, stepping forwards. Fabian stood in front of Rose protectively, while Scorpius looked at their interlocked hands with narrowed eyes. She suddenly felt guilty for reasons she could not fathom, having Scorpius look at her like that.

"Who's this, Rose?" he growled, nodding his head towards Fabian. Rose didn't think she had ever heard Scorpius use that tone before, except maybe at the ball.

Rose didn't look at him in the eye but replied, "My friend, Fabian. Not that it's any of your business, Malfoy."

Scorpius looked at Fabian as if he was a bit of Hippogriff dung stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Rose looked at Fabian and saw that he was standing his ground and glaring at Scorpius right in the face, albeit his hands were shaking a little.

"Scorpius," Rose whispered. He finally looked at her and she begged him with her eyes to stop. His expression softened and he sighed deeply.

"Let's go," he said quietly. With one last look at Rose, Scorpius retreated down the corridor. The rest of the Slytherins soon followed after giving Rose filthy glares, apart from Al. He hugged her and whispered, "Sorry," in her ear before catching up with his best friend.

Rose took a few deep steadying breaths to calm herself. If she hated Slytherins before, that was nothing compared to how she felt now. Who were they to pick fights with her? They must really have boring lives if they had nothing better to do.

"Are you okay?" asked Fabian, his eyes full of concern and anger.

Rose nodded. "I'm fine, just a bit… shaken." She was surprised to see that they were still holding hands. He followed her line of vision.

"Oh… sorry," he said, letting go of her hand. They both blushed.

"Well, we'd better get to class. We're late enough as it is," he said, starting to walk away. Even after what had just happened, Rose couldn't help but smile as she followed him. 


	3. Orange Unicorns

**Chapter 3- Orange Unicorns**

"Ugh, for Merlin's sake," grumbled Rose as she hastily stuffed her quill and parchment into her bag and stood up.

"Where're you going?" asked Dom, looking up from her game of Exploding Snap with Lizzie.

"Library," Rose replied. "It's so noisy in here, I can hardly hear my own thoughts."

"Don't forget about my party tonight!" called Lizzie. Rose nodded in acknowledgement.

As she was leaving the Common room through the portrait hole, Rose bumped straight into her fifteen year old cousin Lily.

"There you are, Rose," she said. "Al sent me to tell you he wants to speak to you. Honestly, I think he's mistaken me for a house-elf or something."

"Oh? What does he want to talk about?" asked Rose hurriedly. She really needed to get this Muggle Studies essay in for tomorrow completed.

"No idea, although he looked kind of nervous, so he's either done something really, really stupid, or- wait, it's Al we're talking about here. Of course he's done something stupid," sighed Lily.

"Uh, okay. Do you know where he is?"

"Lily!" called one of her friends by the fireplace, beckoning her over.

Lily glanced apologetically at Rose before bounding over to her friends.

_Nice to know it's friends over family_, thought Rose sullenly as she headed to the library.

Lily and Rose were the closest of friends during the holidays, but once they got back to school their friendship seemed to be forgotten by the youngest Potter. Anyway, Rose simply didn't have the time to go looking for Al. If he wanted to speak to her, he'd have to find her himself.

Tuesday really hadn't been a good day for Rose. She had overslept and had to go to class with bedraggled bushy hair, her lessons were duller than usual and she only saw Fabian once, and even that didn't go particularly well. They passed each other in the corridor on the way to lunch, and as she raised her arm to wave she tripped over her own feet and landed in front of him, a heap on the floor. Her wild hair stuck out in every direction. She knew she shouldn't have let Dom talk her into wearing heels, even if they weren't very big. Okay, they were tiny. Rose was just a very clumsy girl. Nonetheless, Fabian was the only person in the corridor who didn't laugh at her (Dom and Lizzie laughed loudest of all) and that had to be a good thing.

"Good evening, Madam Pryce," she said as she entered the library, forgetting her problems for the moment. After spending a great deal of the past seven years in the same room as each other, Rose had gotten to know the librarian quite well and looked up to her. She was a skinny young woman who had her mousy brown hair scraped back in a bun and wore the same robes every day, however Rose thought her uplifting personality made up for it.

"Hello, Rose," Madam Pryce replied cheerily from behind her desk. "I got a new shipment of Muggle fiction in for you today."

"Ooh, I'll have a look at them later. Got a load of homework to do. Thanks, though."

Madam Pryce smiled in response and turned back to the book she was reading.

Rose noticed the library was full today. Some third year Hufflepuffs were in her usual spot by the window and everywhere else was taken. However, Rose's problems seemed to be following her around today. Once she finally spotted a free seat and sat down, she realised Scorpius was sitting opposite her colouring in some parchment. She groaned audibly after stifling a snigger.

"Oh! – uh, hi," stammered Scorpius, looking up at Rose in surprise and quickly shoving his parchment and crayons into his bag.

She wanted to move away but there were simply no other seats available. She settled with sitting there but not saying a word to him. He had yet to apologize.

"So, uh, how're you?" he asked awkwardly as she resumed writing her essay.

No reply.

"What's that you're doing?"

Rose opened her textbook and began skimming it.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. He knew he wouldn't get a response from her.

Rose frowned as she remembered all the days they used to spend together studying, at least for a bit until they distracted each other. In fact, only two weeks ago Scorpius had taken Rose for a walk around the lake knowing the work was getting too much for her. She had arrived back at the dormitory that night absolutely soaked- she suddenly had the urge to go have another water fight with him.

Rose glanced up at Scorpius, thinking he was still looking at the ceiling, but she was surprised to see he was looking intently at her. After a few seconds of staring she wondered if she had something on her face, an eyelash perhaps, and tried to casually wipe her cheeks.

"You have nothing on your face, don't worry," he chuckled. She blushed. Was she really that easy to read?

"Am I really that easy to read?" she said, and then started banging her head on her desk for talking to him.

"Bad Rosie, bad Rosie," she muttered.

"Um, Rose? Stop harming yourself, you strange girl."

She snorted. "Me, strange? At least I don't spend my evenings colouring in pretty pictures of hippogriffs." She looked at him pointedly.

It was Scorpius's turn to flush.

"It was very scruffy colouring, by the way. Even Al could do better than that," Rose added.

"For your information, it was a unicorn, not a hippogriff. And my colouring is amazing, thank you very much!" he cried indignantly.

Rose couldn't help giggling at the expression on his face. "Unicorns aren't orange though! Neither are hippogriffs!"

"Are too!" he retaliated.

"Not!"

"Mr Malfoy, Miss Weasley, please keep the noise levels down. People are trying to study in here," said Madam Pryce crossly, but Rose was sure she saw her wink briefly.

"Sorry, Madam Pryce," said Scorpius solemnly. "Rose is much more boisterous than she lets on, I'm afraid. I told her to be quiet, but she wouldn't listen."

"He's lying! He was the one making all the noise!"

"Just pipe down, the both of you," Madame Pryce chortled, shaking her head disapprovingly.

Scorpius grinned at Rose complacently. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her homework.

After she had written half a sentence she heard an annoying tapping noise on her table. She looked up to see Scorpius drumming on his desk.

"Could you stop that?" she asked. "It's irritating. And I _need_ to get this essay done."

"Want any help?" Scorpius asked.

Rose raised her eyebrows at his offer. "No… thanks. You don't take Muggle Studies."

"I know plenty about Muggles!"

Rose looked at him sceptically.

"Okay then, why don't you ask your beloved _boyfriend_ Fabian to help you," Scorpius scoffed, saying the word 'boyfriend' as if it was a deadly disease.

"He's not my boyfriend," she mumbled.

Scorpius shrugged coolly and started fiddling with her quill. His hand accidentally knocked her ink pot over her work.

"Look what you've done! It's smudged!" Rose held up her ruined piece of parchment in outrage.

Scorpius mock gasped. "Oh, Merlin, no! Someone call the Minister of Magic over immediately, it's an emergency!"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Look, I know you think you're funny and all, but I have to finish this essay for first lesson tomorrow, and it's already -"

Rose looked at her watch in alarm.

"Quarter to eight," she continued. "Which means I have to go. Now."

She packed her bag and hurdled out of the library, narrowly dodging a first year's head.

"Rose? Where are you going?" Scorpius called after her, but she didn't turn back.

A few minutes later Rose finally reached her dorm with an unfinished essay and was greeted by Dom yelling at her for being late.

"I specifically told you to be here for half seven!" she yelled, throwing Rose a pair of pyjamas decorated with pink cauldrons to change into.

"Sorry, sorry, I got side-tracked," she muttered ruefully, walking into the bathroom to get changed.

When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Dom, Lizzie and Lizzie's cousin, Hayley, crowded round a chocolate cake on a small table in the middle of the room. Today was Lizzie's 18th birthday and they were having a little party to celebrate. Lizzie didn't want a big fuss. Their other two dorm mates, Caitlyn and Leila, were talking quietly amongst themselves in a corner. They were invited to join in but refused, probably because they still felt guilty for when they used to pick on Lizzie in second year.

The night was spent playing games, gossiping and eating triple their body weight in Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties, and they all crashed shortly after midnight.

[insert line divider here]

_Rose was perched on the edge of a beautiful marble fountain enjoying the picturesque views surrounding her. Huge palm trees were dotted everywhere and vibrant butterflies fluttered around her crimson hair. She looked down and saw she was wearing a pretty white dress that flowed to the floor like a waterfall. In the distance she could see fields of roses in all colours. She took a deep breath, taking in the sweet smell and closed her eyes._

_Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching. She whipped round and saw enormous statues of merpeople made of ornate crystal glistening in the sunlight. But something else caught her attention. A giant yellow rubber duck holding a bag of popcorn was waddling towards her through a flower patch. It took her a second to get over the shock and realise it was throwing the popcorn at her. She gasped and started running as fast as she could, as far as she could, away from the menacing duck behind her, but her dress was preventing her from running very fast._

_She hid behind a rose bush to catch her breath and jumped when something tapped her shoulder. She spun around and came face to face with the duck, who poured the popcorn over her head. Each separate piece felt like a snooker ball crushing her skull. She screamed and fell to the ground. The last thing she remembered was seeing an evil glint in the duck's eye and hearing a malevolent laugh that sent chills down her spine before she saw only darkness…  
><em>  
>Rose woke up with a start. She clutched her pounding heart and breathed in deeply, looking around the room for her attacker.<em><br>_  
>"It was just a dream… just a stupid, horrible dream…" she told herself, rocking back and forth on her bed."That's the last time I eat so many Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans before bed."<p>

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and checked her watch. 5:07 am. She sighed and tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't. She took a long hot shower, got changed into her uniform and decided to head down to the Great Hall for an early breakfast.

In the Entrance Hall she saw Poppy Parkinson, Abigail Millington and Elie Martin who looked like they had just been out clubbing all night. Rose wouldn't put it past them.

"Well, if it isn't little miss Rosie Posie Dosie," giggled Poppy, coming to a stop a few metres to the left of Rose. Elie and Abigail fell over as they walked up to her. Rose raised her eyebrows. __

"Mosie Fosie," slurred Abigail, swaying up to Rose and giving her a big hug.

"Ugh, get off me!" Rose could smell the firewhiskey on her and prised her off. Abigail fell to the floor and didn't bother getting back up. After a few seconds she passed out.

"You're just jealous, Rose," giggled Elie, her eyes half open. "I just had a party, and it was cool, 'cause you weren't invited."

Poppy started laughing hysterically. "I- I bet they just stayed in their d- dormitory and had a s- stupid slumber p- party or something."

"We did not!" lied Rose. "We threw a party of our own in the Gryffindor common room, actually."

Elie snorted. "You're lying. Lizzie has always been _sooo_ boring."

"Lizzie's ten times the person you'll ever be, Parkinson," said Rose, crossing her arms.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" yelled Elie, running forward and punching thin air, and then collapsing into a fit of giggles.

Poppy abruptly turned around and puked onto the stone floor. Rose was beyond disgusted. She wasn't sure if she could stomach breakfast any more.

Elie slung her arm around Poppy's shoulders and they stumbled together to the dungeons, leaving Abigail lying on the floor. Rose sighed and dragged the blonde Slytherin to the hospital wing. Sometimes, she wished she wasn't such a compassionate person. She doubted Abigail would do the same for her.

By the time she sat down at the Gryffindor table it was nearly seven. As Rose filled her plate with bacon and eggs she noticed a huge bowl of popcorn a little way down the table by Bertie McGee. She peeked up at the Professors' table at the front and saw Professor Wright stuffing his face with popcorn. He caught Rose's gaze and gave her a quick wink.

"Hey, Rose," said a familiar voice from the other side of the table. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Sure," she smiled at Lysander and he beamed at her before sitting down. She hadn't spoken to him in ages and it'd be good to catch up.

"So…" he began, piling his plate with eggs.

"So," she said. Yeah, now she remembered why they hadn't talked in a while.

"The quidditch match is on Saturday," he commented after a short pause.

"Oh, is it that soon? Who's playing who again?"

"Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw," replied Lysander. "I'm supporting Ravenclaw without a doubt, along with the rest of our house, I would think!"

Rose forced a laugh. Since second year she had always supported Slytherin, apart from when they were playing Gryffindor, since Scorpius played Seeker on the team. But now… she wasn't sure what to think. She was definitely on speaking terms with him, yet she couldn't get how he acted at the ball out of her mind. Maybe, for the first time in five years, she would be supporting the Ravenclaws rather than the Slytherins.

"What's this?" Lysander asked, holding up a piece of popcorn.

"Oh, that's popcorn. It's a muggle snack," replied Rose taking a few pieces for herself.

Lysander cautiously placed it in his mouth and his eyes widened. "This… this is _good_!"

Rose laughed quietly, a real laugh this time. Lysander grabbed a handful of popcorn and started sniffing it, causing Rose to snort noisily like the perfect lady she was. Bertie, who was sitting nearby, shuffled further down the bench.

Rose and Lysander found common ground discussing food and she found herself enjoying his company. After they finished their breakfast he walked her to Muggle Studies and then headed to Care of Magical Creatures.

Once she entered the classroom she realised she was the only one in there apart from Professor Wright. Oh dear.

**A/N: Thanks so much to the people that have added to favourites/reviewed! You are awesome. Reviews inspire me to write more :D  
><strong> 


	4. Tattered Textbooks

_**Chapter 4- Tattered Textbooks**__**  
>Disclaimer- The world of Harry Potter belongs to JKR.<br>Thanks to everyone who has viewed/reviewed/favourited!**_**  
><strong>  
>Rose sat at the same desk she sat at last lesson, hoping Fabian would sit by her again. She doubted he would though- after all, last time he only sat by her because there were no other seats available. After a few minutes of watching Professor Wright trimming his eyebrows with nail scissors, Rose was saved by a bunch of Ravenclaws ambling into the room.<p>

"Hi!" greeted Fabian as he reached her table, running his fingers through his russet hair. "Er… mind if I sit here?"

"I have the distinct sense of déjà vu," Rose grinned, gesturing for him to sit down. 

"So, how've you been?" he asked, pulling out his homework. Homework… homework!

"Oh, bugger!" Rose clasped her hand over her mouth in realisation. A few students nearby looked around at her.

Fabian looked at her questioningly.

"I never finished my homework!" she gasped. Rose Lavender Weasley had never once forgotten to complete a piece of homework in her entire time at Hogwarts, until now, in N.E.W.T. year, when it actually mattered.

"Oh…" Fabian looked uncomfortable. "How come?"

"It was my friend's birthday yesterday and I completely forgot about it. Ugh, I'm so stupid!"

"No you're not," Fabian replied.

She stared down at her half written essay miserably.

"You… you can look at mine if you want."

Rose looked up at him hopefully. "Could I?"

"'Course." He passed her his homework a little reluctantly. He was a diligent Ravenclaw, after all. Allowing people to copy his work was not in his nature.

"Thank you so much, Fabian," she gave him an awkward little hug before jumping right to it and rephrasing his essay as her own. He blushed slightly and faced the front.

"Settle down, class," boomed Professor Wright after a while, clasping his hands together. "Right, today we're going to look at how Muggles live their lives compared to us magical folk, and how they cope without magic. Mr McGee, if you would kindly hand out these textbooks."

Bertie strolled around the class and handed Rose a tattered textbook. She looked at the title: _My Life as a Muggle_ by Daisy Hookum.

"In 1987, Daisy Hookum gave up magic for an entire year to mingle with the Muggles," said Professor Wright. "As you can imagine, this did not go without a few struggles here and there. Ms Hookum will be coming in next lesson to tell you all about it; however it is always useful to have a little background knowledge. Please begin reading at page 3."

Rose finally completed her essay and started on her reading. Professor Wright didn't even ask for their homework in, but Rose was glad she had done it just in case. She turned the first page and wrote her name at the front of the book. Amongst the many names scribbled there, a familiar one written in a very neat script caught her eye: _Hermione Granger_.

Rose squealed excitedly. She always did this when she saw someone's name she knew in textbooks.

"Look! It's my mum!" she giggled, pointing to the elegant signature.

"Oh, er, cool," replied Fabian. "Your mum took Muggle Studies?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, even though she was a Muggle herself. Well, not a Muggle, obviously, but she was brought up by Muggles. My grandparents on her side of the family are so awesome, they always look really shocked and impressed and even a little scared whenever my brother and I do magic. Even though we're not allowed to do it outside of school… not that they know that. I mean, my dad is fine with it as long as we're not doing anything dangerous, but my mum? She is such a stickler for the rules. They're very different people, sometimes I wonder how and why they even got together in the first place. Not that I want them to divorce, of course, I mean I love my parents and they're really happy together. Er, sorry for ranting," she said when she realised Fabian looked a little confused.

He chuckled and said, "Don't worry about it. Ranting is fun."

Rose nodded in agreement and blushed a little.

"So, you're supporting the Eagles on Saturday, aren't you?" Fabian asked as turned a page of his book. Merlin, he was a fast reader. Rose was still on the first paragraph. 

"Well… I'm not sure."

"Rose! You can't possibly want Slytherin to win after what they did to you on Monday!"

"A small group of Slytherins don't represent the whole house," reasoned Rose. "They aren't all as hateful as Parkinson and her accomplices, you know."

Fabian looked doubtful. "Name one nice person in Slytherin."

The first person who came to mind was Scorpius; however she didn't mention him for two reasons. One, because she felt uncomfortable talking about him with Fabian, and two, he teased her far more often than he was nice to her.

"Albus Potter," she finally said. "He may be a bit of an oddball, but he's usually very nice."

"Family doesn't count," he said.

She bit her lip in thought. "My friend Anjali from potions class is lovely."

"Anjali Mehta? Isn't she the one who hexes first years whenever she sees them in the corridors, just for fun?"

Rose looked discomfited. "Okay, so Anjali can be a little fierce at times. But she's usually very easy to get along with."

Fabian didn't look convinced but let the subject drop.

After a few minutes of silence he remarked, "So, the Hogsmeade trip's coming up soon."

Rose nodded and looked up at him.

"So I was wondering if, uh, if you've made any plans yet?"

"No, not yet," she replied. "You?"

"No, but I hoping to ask someone to go with me, actually," he began.

"Oh?" Rose said, looking at him closely.

"Yeah… Rose, would you-"

"Can I borrow a quill?" asked Fabian's friend Noah from the table in front. "Mine just broke."****

Fabian looked narked but dug into his bag for a spare quill and passed it over.

"Cheers mate." Noah turned back around.

"Where were we?" Rose asked, facing Fabian again.****

"We were talking about Hogsmeade," he said, pulling at the edge of his collar.****

This is it! He was going to ask her to go together. Rose's first Hogsmeade date. Her heart raced at the thought. She finally wouldn't be dragged by Dom into Madam Malkin's to try on hundreds of outfits or forced into Dogweed and Deathcap to examine plants by Lizzie. She could go where she liked. She held back a squeal of delight, as she didn't want to scare Fabian away so soon.

"I know we've only known each other for a few days, but would you… would you ask your cousin if she'd come with me?" he said quickly.

Rose's jaw dropped. Her heart stopped altogether. Had she heard correctly?

"I've liked her for a while, but never had the courage to ask her out myself," he continued.

She quickly pulled herself together and tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"You mean Dom? She's taken, I'm afraid."

"No, not her."

"Roxy?"

"Nope."

"Which one do you mean, then?"

"The red-headed one."

"Most of my family are red heads, Fabian," Rose tried and failed to keep the iciness out of her voice. **  
><strong>  
>"The one that's really pretty."<span><strong><br>**  
>"Lily?"<p>

Fabian shook his head.

"Er, Molly?"

"No," Fabian replied.

"Lucy? She's only in second year!"

"Er, no, sorry, I did mean Molly."

"Oh. Well, I'll be sure to mention it to her," Rose said coldly.****

She blinked back tears. She really hadn't been expecting that. Was something wrong with her? No one ever seemed to want to ask her out… maybe she was too unapproachable and unfriendly. It was probably her freckles- it had become sunnier recently and her freckles were becoming more prominent. Or maybe it was her weight. She had never been the skinniest of girls. She decided to cut down on the pudding at dinner time – no more second helpings of apple pie for her. **  
><strong>  
>"Please quieten down and work in silence for the last ten minutes, class," said Professor Wright over the noise. The class gradually went quiet.<p>

While Fabian was turned the other way rummaging in his bag, she leaned over and quickly grabbed his quill and dropped it on the floor by his feet. Childish? Yes. Did it make Rose feel better? A bit.

She saw him looking around for his quill before diving into his bag to fetch out yet another one. How many quills did he keep in there? He started scribbling hurriedly on a scrap piece of parchment, probably writing a love note to Molly expressing his love for her or something equally disgusting. But when he was sure the Professor wasn't looking he slipped the parchment in front of Rose.

_Look, I know I said I like your cousin, but I don't. I hardly know who she is. I don't really want to go to Hogsmeade with her._

She gave him a curious look but he had suddenly become interested in his ink pot. She wrote back underneath:__

**Okay… what are you saying?**_  
><em>  
>She passed it back to him and he wrote:<em><em>

_Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?_

The corners of her mouth curved up into a smile. Now she felt bad for dropping his quill on the floor.

**I'd love to. Why didn't you just ask me before?**

Rose heard Fabian sigh in relief before he scrawled:

_Sorry. I guess I wasn't put in Gryffindor for a reason._

He smiled sheepishly. Rose smiled back at him. Their nice little moment was ruined when Professor Wright stormed over to their desks and snatched the parchment off Rose and glanced over it.

"How dare you," he spat, throwing the note behind him in disgust. "Class is not the time to get all lovey-dovey with one another. How revolting. I cannot believe my students would act in such a way. You should have more respect than to pass notes in my lessons, especially ones that make my stomach turn!"

Professor Wright's face was crumpled in anger and he was breathing heavily, nostrils flared. He leaned towards Rose and Fabian until their faces were almost touching.

"I hate children," he hissed, spit flying into their faces. "Never liked them, although you two brats just raised the hate to a whole new level. Detention for a month, both of you!"

Was he for real? Rose gasped as his fist raised and he was about to hit her. She cringed, waiting for the impact as Fabian leaned over her protectively, however Professor Wright dropped his hand and started shaking. It took Rose a moment to realise he was shaking with laugher, eventually getting louder and louder until he was in hysterics. Rose and Fabian looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Ha ha, your faces!" he chuckled. "I'm just yanking your wands. You kids have fun."

After passing back their piece of parchment and ruffling their hair, he strolled back to the front of the classroom. "Class dismissed," he said, eyes still glinting with amusement.

They were both frozen in shock.

"What… the bloody hell… just happened?" Rose said quietly once everyone else had left the classroom.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here," replied Fabian. He grabbed her hand and they hastily ran out of the classroom past Professor Wright, who was humming a Celestina Warbeck classic 'You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me' while staring vacantly at his wedding ring.

[insert line divider here]

The rest of the week flew by, and sounds of laughter and chattering drifted across the grounds on the breezy Saturday morning. Rose was walking with Lizzie and Dom towards the stands around the Quidditch pitch to watch the highly anticipated match, which would determine who played Gryffindor in the final match of the year in a month's time. Fabian gave her an endearing smile as he walked past with his Ravenclaw friends.

"So, who are you two rooting for?" Lizzie asked as they found seats with their fellow Gryffindors. They had front row seats, of course; Lizzie was really into watching Quidditch, even though she could hardly stay sat on a broom for more than a minute herself. She didn't want to get stuck sitting behind some really tall person and not see a thing.

"Ravenclaw, of course," said Dom uninterestedly. "Ethan's on the team."

"But their Seeker is such a prude," argued Lizzie. "And I heard he went out with a second year last month. What kind of 17 year old likes a 12 year old?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, you mean Gary Wickham? It's true- she was my little cousin's best friend! He looks down his nose at everyone too, just because he's a Ravenclaw."

"Blegh. Ravenclaws are too proud. Just because they're clever does not mean they're better than the rest of us," sniffed Lizzie.

"How come you're against them, all of a sudden?" said Dom. "Parkinson, Martin and Millington are in Slytherin. I think that's reason enough to want Ravenclaw to win."

"I'm not against Ravenclaw. I'm just saying that a lot of them think they're above us."

"Well…" said Rose quietly, "not all Ravenclaws are like that…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about your beloved Fabian," giggled Lizzie. Rose blushed.

Dom's ears perked up considerably. "We still need to plan what you're gonna wear next weekend, Rosie," she interjected. "I'm thinking a cute dress and heels."

"No way! Those things are a safety hazard. And I'm going to Hogsmeade, Dom, not a party," said Rose, rolling her eyes.

Dom made a 'humph' noise and turned away, but Rose knew that was not the last she'd hear of it.

"How's Al been doing lately, Rose?" burst Lizzie a few minutes later.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Being Al-ish, I suppose. Why?"

"Just wondering," shrugged Lizzie, looking into her binoculars. "Ooh, look, it's starting!"

Dom, who thought Quidditch was a waste of time (even though she solely went out with people involved in the sport), inspected her nails while loud cheers erupted from the stands. Rose looked down and watched as the two teams came soaring onto the pitch.

"Out comes Slytherin Captain and Keeper Danielle Blythe, followed by Chasers Anderson, Parker and Bell… Beaters Bole and Criss… And finally the Seeker, Malfoy," announced the commentator for the match, a third year Hufflepuff named Chrissie Creevey, as the audience applauded.

Rose watched as Scorpius waved at the spectators, blonde hair rippling in the breeze. She felt an unpleasant twinge in her abdomen when she saw sixth year Scarlett Bell whisper something in his ear, causing him to grin.

"And here's the Ravenclaw team: Captain and Chaser Callum Samuels, Dawson and Myers, Beaters Harper and Bebbington, Keeper Hill and Seeker Wickham."

The referee, Madam Spinnet, blew into her whistle and the game commenced.

"And they're off!" declared Chrissie. "Parker instantly takes the Quaffle, nice pass to Bell there – she's zooming towards the goals – pass back to Parker, he's going to shoot, he – blocked by Hill, nice save – Dawson in possession of the Quaffle, he dodges Anderson, dives around Bell and soars straight for the goal – ooh, hit by a nasty Bludger sent by Bole, that's gotta hurt… Samuels takes the Quaffle, he's going to shoot - Keeper Blythe dives, and misses – RAVENCLAW SCORE!"

Rose clapped along with everyone else, laughing at the moans from the Slytherins.

"SAMUELS! SAMUELS! SAMUELS!" the Ravenclaws chanted. He did a few loop-de-loops before getting back into the game.

Rose asked Lizzie if she could borrow her binoculars and, without really planning to, she searched the pitch for Scorpius. She soon found him flying absently around the Hufflepuff stands, waiting to catch sight of the Snitch. He looked so at ease. If only life were as carefree as flying…

"Psst!" she heard from somewhere behind her. She turned around but everyone in the row behind her was watching the game intently.

"Psssst!" the voice hissed louder. Something kicked her leg. She leaned over the seat and punched back harder.

"Ow!" they yelped. Rose smiled smugly. "What was that for? Rose, it's me! Al!"

"Oh," Rose said, turning around and seeing Al's bright green eyes looking up at her gruffly from under her seat. "What are you doing down there, Al?"

"I couldn't stand listening to Poppy babble on about how appealing Scorp looks any longer. I don't give a hippogriff's backside if the bloke's good-looking; he's my best mate and it's weird hearing him talked about that way. Anyway, mind if I join you?" he asked hopefully.

"Uh, sure," she replied. After a short pause she added, "Aren't you going to sit down?"

"I'm a Slytherin- I can't be seen in the Gryffindor stands!" he exclaimed.

Rose rolled her eyes and dragged him into the seat next her. She turned her attention back to Scorpius.

Hm. Well. She seemed to agree with Parkinson on one thing, at least.

"So, Rose… I've been trying to find you all week," said Al. "I want to apologize for what happened on Monday. What Emerson did, getting in your face and everything, was way out of order. Scorpius and I set him straight, it won't happen again."

Rose laughed, "Sure, as if Scorpius would defend me."

Al gave her a weird look and muttered, "Are you completely clueless or something?"

"What was that, Potter?" Rose narrowed her eyes.

Al sighed. "I can't believe I'm the one having to tell you this. It's obvious that he-"

"Bell scores another 10 points for Slytherin!" Chrissie's voice interrupted Al. He quickly grabbed the binoculars off Rose.

"Hey!" she protested.

"I only want them for a sec."

"They're Lizzie's, by the way, not mine. And hurry up, I was looking at something," said Rose.

Al leaned over Rose to talk to Lizzie. "You don't mind if I borrow these for a minute, do you?"

Lizzie blushed profusely. "N- no, of course not. I mean, they're not even really mine, they're my cousin Hayley's. I asked to borrow them for today because, y'know, you can't really see what's going on without them…"

Al cocked an eyebrow.

"Er, sorry," she muttered, looking away. Rose could tell by the look on her face that she was inwardly cursing herself.

Rose nudged Lizzie in the ribs and gave her a look. The _since-when-did-you-develop-romantic-feelings-for-my-cousin-and-why-wasn't-I-informed-of-this-sooner_ look, to be precise. Lizzie shrugged and quickly turned her attention to the game.

"Ouch! Bludger hits Malfoy on the thigh, sent by Harper!" said Chrissie. "He was _so_ close to catching the snitch."

Rose and Al both rose from their seats.

"HEY! THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND, YOU JERK!" roared Al.

"HOW DARE HE! SEND HARPER OFF, MADAM SPINNET!" yelled Rose.

"Jeez, you guys, calm down! People are staring!" hissed Dom. "Look, he's got back on his broom. He's fine." 

They sat back down, grumbling under their breath.

"- Myers avoids Bludger sent by Parker, shoots, and scores! That's another ten points to Ravenclaw, making it 90-30. The Ravens are making it look easy. Blythe needs to get her head in the game if she wants Slytherin to win the cup this year."

Rose squinted at Scorpius in the distance and thought he looked as if he was chasing after something. She couldn't be sure, as Al still had the binoculars and wouldn't give them back.

"I'm using them," whined Al as Rose tried to take them off him.

Rose leaned her head towards Al's and followed his line of sight until she deduced that he was looking at Scarlett Bell. Again.

"You're staring at Scarlett, aren't you?" she said, mouth twisting into a Malfoy-standard smirk.

"No!" he cried.

Rose laughed at him. "Oh, Al. When will you learn?"

"Learn what?"

"That all Slytherins are stupid," she said simply, contradicting what she said earlier in the week to Fabian.

"Are not. I'm in Slytherin, and I'm not stupid."

"You keep telling yourself that, Al," she giggled. He rolled his eyes and looked back through the binoculars.

Rose spent the next few minutes idly listening to Dom gush about how toned the Slytherin Beaters were.

"Malfoy's caught the Snitch!" Chrissie's animated voice instantly caught her attention. "Slytherin win 180 points to 90!"

The Slytherins' shrieks of delight were deafening. Everything happened so fast. Rose snatched the binoculars off Al before he could react and found Scorpius in the air, lifted by his cheering teammates. He looked as if he had just won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. Not that he needed the money. Scarlett pulled him back down to the ground, grabbed his face between her hands, and kissed him. Many of the team members wolf whistled.

Rose and Al looked at each other, speechless.

What. The. Hell.

She looked back at Scorpius and saw him scanning the crowds until eventually their eyes met. He had an infuriatingly smug look on his face.

Rose glowered at him and was about to whip out her wand and do an Unforgivable on both Scorpius and Scarlett, when a Bludger thundering towards them caught her eye. She looked behind him and saw that the Ravenclaw Beater Harper had knocked the Bludger towards the Slytherin team in anger. Rose waved her arms frantically for him to move out of the way, and Al having picked up on it did the same, but Scorpius just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looking slightly amused.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" screamed Rose at the top of her lungs. "_MOOOOVE_!"

A second later the Bludger collided with Scorpius' head, and he collapsed.

_**A/N: Tell me what you thought 3**_


	5. Pumpkin Pasties

**Chapter 5- Pumpkin Pasties  
><strong>  
>"Scorpius is <em>so<em> talented, I mean did you _see _him get the snitch on Saturday? So effortlessly… I don't know how he does it."

"I know. He's definitely one of the best players in the school."

Rose rolled her eyes as Caitlyn and Leila prattled on about Scorpius. If they cared about him so much, why hadn't they visited him in the hospital wing? Rose had sat next to the unconscious Scorpius for hours until Madam Pomfrey kicked her out, and she kept going back every day to see if he stirred. She stayed even longer than the Slytherin Quidditch team. Al had only stayed for a short while; the sight of Scarlett cooing over Scorpius was too much for him to handle.

The dorm went quiet. Rose peeked through the hangings around her bed and saw everyone was asleep. She waited until she heard Leila's snoring to be sure and then tiptoed out the dormitory.

"Lumos," she whispered as she climbed out the portrait hole.

The hallways were eerily silent as they always were in the middle of the night. She had had(done?) some night time kitchen raids before, however the castle at nightfall never ceased to scare her. There was something about the echo of her footsteps and the soft snores of the portraits that she found unsettling.

The floor of the entrance hall was freezing under her feet and she scolded herself for forgetting to put shoes on. She crept passed the Hufflepuff common room, towards the painting of a bowl of fruit, tickled the pear and turned the door knob.

Hundreds of house-elves were spread out across the kitchen floor wrapped in tiny sleeping bags around the four tables.

"Aww," said Rose, taking in the scene around her. House-elves were so cute when they slept!

This seemed to wake up the house-elf nearest her.

"Rose Weasley!" she said in a high-pitched voice, standing up and smoothing out her dress. "Such an honour to have you visit again!"

Rose smiled down at the house-elf. She recognised her as Mitzi who often served her when she came down for food. She had huge blue eyes and a little pink nose.

"What can Mitzi get you?" she asked, gesturing for Rose to sit down on a stool.

"Hmm, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, an apple pie, a treacle tart, some pumpkin pasties and a bunch of grapes please, Mitzi. Oh, and a glass of milk wouldn't hurt either."

"Coming right up, Miss!" squeaked Mitzi, setting off to work.

Rose sighed contentedly. She wished she could get this midnight snack service back home, but her mother would go berserk if she knew her daughter made house-elves work in the middle of the night. Part of her career was improving the quality of life for house-elves and nowadays you could get sent to Azkaban for seriously mistreating them, but they obviously enjoyed working, so really she was making their lives happier.

But as Rose watched Mitzi sprinkle chocolate chips over the cookie mix, she wondered whether Mitzi actually knew the feeling to be free, to do what you want and not what your master says. Did she really want to do the human's dirty work, or was she simply brainwashed into thinking she did?

"Here you go, Miss," said Mitzi, handing Rose her food. Rose came out of her reverie and thanked the house-elf for all her effort and offered to give her a few galleons. Mitzi looked shocked and said she didn't want money, and that she was happy to help for free. Maybe house-elves were desirous to serve by nature after all. Rose downed her milk in one gulp and left the kitchens with her arms full of fatty snacks.

Once she reached the hospital wing, she paused outside the door to get a better hold on all the food she was carrying when she heard whispers coming from within the room. She pushed the door open another inch and listened.

"Scorpy… wake up. You have to wake up. Please, for me? I need you; you make me feel like a better person. It's so hard to go on without you… I swear I'm going to kill that horrible Ravenclaw for hurting you."

Rose snorted. Who on earth was that speaking? She doubted it was Madam Pomfrey, but who else would be down here at three in the morning? Who would talk to him like that?

There were footsteps. Rose quickly hid behind the nearest suit of armour and watched the door with a beady eye. Damn, she had dropped a pumpkin pasty. Oh well, she still had a dozen left.

Poppy Parkinson came out of the hospital wing and quietly closed the door behind her. She spotted the pasty, picked it up, sniffed it, and dropped it back on the floor in disgust. Apparently pumpkin pasties weren't for everyone.

Once she had turned left at the end of the corridor, Rose came out of her hiding place and stared at the spot where Poppy had disappeared. That girl was even more demented than Rose originally thought.

She tiptoed into the hospital wing. She let out a sigh of relief once she spotted Scorpius on his bed, knowing he hadn't died or anything. She pulled up a chair beside him and placed all the food on his bedside table, being careful not to make too much noise. A crabby Madam Pomfrey was not something she wanted to deal with right now. They had already had an argument a few hours earlier when she caught Rose in the hospital wing after curfew.

There were several Get Well cards on the table. Rose, naturally, took a peek at them. She picked up the nearest one with a drawing of a Pygmy Puff blowing its nose on the front.

_To my darling Scorpius,  
>Your hair is yellow like a rubber duck,<br>your eyes shine as bright as the moon.  
>If you don't recover my life will suck,<br>So I hope you get well soon._  
><em>-Signed, the love of your life xxx<em>

Rose sniggered. Whoever wrote that was obviously a literary genius. Signed by someone who considers themself the love of his life? That narrows it down to Poppy, Leila and Caitlyn. Maybe Scarlett, too; she seemed to have enrolled in his ever growing fan base recently.

Another one had a hand-drawn snitch on the front surrounding by hearts and stars. It read:

_Are you using a Confundus charm or are you naturally this mind blowing?_

That one was definitely from Caitlyn. She had used it on Al back in third year. And Al had actually gone out with her for a while.

Rose shuddered at the memory._  
><em>

She sighed as she looked at Scorpius's face. He seemed so peaceful, breathing steadily and looking so serene. Why couldn't he look more like that when he was awake? Actually, Rose decided, it's a good thing he doesn't usually look like that. She would be forever gazing at him.

"Rose! Snap out of it!" she hissed at herself in her head. "You're going on a date with Fabian soon. Cut it out with all the more-than-friendly thoughts about Scorpius."

"Sorry, Rosie," she replied to herself sheepishly. "I can't help it."

Uh oh… she was speaking to herself. Deciding it was sleep-deprivation that was causing her lunacy, she rested her head on Scorpius' bed and closed her eyes. Even though it wasn't too comfortable, she soon sank into a peaceful slumber.

"Rose?" Scorpius muttered groggily many hours later, sitting up in his bed. He looked around at his surroundings and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why are we in the hospital wing?"

Rose stretched her arms above her head and rubbed her eyes. Then she realised Scorpius was awake.

"You're awake!" she squealed. "How are you feeling?"

He stretched his muscles for a few seconds before replying, "Not bad. Why are we in here?"

She passed him a slice of apple pie. "You're in here because you got knocked out by a Bludger, remember? Here, eat. You must be starving."

"Yeah, I am actually…" he said, taking a bite of the pie, then spitting it back out. "Eugh, it's cold!"

"Damn, I forgot food gets cold," muttered Rose. She pointed her wand at the pie and said a warming spell.

"Thanks," he said, digging into his warm pie. "You didn't have to bring all this, you know."

"Oh, it's nothing," she waved it off.

"How long have I been in here?"

"Two nights. You were unconscious all of Sunday. Your parents came to visit. Pomfrey's been pouring all sorts of potions in your mouth, dear Merlin, I was starting to think she was poisoning you-"

"Wait, my parents visited?"

"Yep," replied Rose, getting a handful of grapes. "They're very lovely. Well, your dad didn't say much, but your mum was fussing all over you, kissing your forehead and whatnot."

Scorpius blushed. Rose giggled. "Aw, you shouldn't get embarrassed about your loving mummy, Scorpy poo-"

She stopped when she heard Madam Pomfrey's office door open, and stared wide eyed at Scorpius.

"Hide!" he whispered.

Rose ducked under the bed just in time.

"Mr Malfoy, you're awake at last! How do you feel?" she asked, rushing over to his side and checking his temperature.

"Fine, just a bit drowsy, but there's no pain at all."

"Yes, well you've slept for 45 hours, you'll be up in no time… where did all this food come from?" she asked, staring at the huge pile on the table in disbelief.

"Oh, er… I don't know, I've only just woken up," he replied nervously. "Maybe it was the, er, house-elves?"

"Maybe," Madam Pomfrey replied, but she looked doubtful. "Well, you seem well enough. You can leave now and head to class, Mr Malfoy, but please be more vigilant on the Quidditch pitch!"

Rose spotted a spider an inch from her face on the floor and let out a squeal of fright. Looking at its hairy legs was making her skin crawl. She had hated spiders ever since her cousin Fred transformed her doll into a giant spider when she was three.

"Miss Weasley? What are you doing here? You should be in class! It's well past nine o'clock!" said the shrill voice of Madam Pomfrey, pulling her out from under the bed.

"Oh, er, sorry, I'll be off then," she said, scurrying out the hospital wing. She heard Madam Pomfrey mutter, "Dear me, kids these days are so puckish."

Puckish? Huh. She had never been called puckish before. She didn't know what it meant, so she took it as a compliment.

She sprinted to the common room and hastily changed into her school uniform before dashing down to the dungeons. She raised her hand to knock on the door when she realised she had left her bag back in the dormitory and went back up to get it.

By the time she reached the potions classroom, complete with her bag, she was huffing and puffing like Granddad Weasley after a family game of Quidditch at Christmas and made a mental note to do more exercise. After all, in less than a week she would be walking round Hogsmeade with Fabian and did not want him to see her sweating like a troll. She shuddered at the thought.

"Rose!" called Scorpius, walking towards her. "You have potions too?"

"Yup," she replied sadly. Professor Totternhoe, the potions master, was not friendly to those who were late. In fact, she wasn't particularly friendly to any one at all. The students liked to call her Totty behind her back. "We've had the same class all year, one would think you'd have noticed by now."

"Well… are you going to go in?"

Rose raised her eyebrows at him. "Me? Er, no thanks. You're the reason I'm late, you should go in first and take the wrath of Professor Totty."

"Hey, it's not like I forced you to visit me!" Scorpius gave Rose a weird look. "Why were you visiting me during the night, anyway?"

Rose blushed. "I wanted to see if you were alright, obviously."

"But why?"

"Causeicarebouchoo," she muttered.

"Say again? I didn't quite catch that."

"Because I care about you, you idiot!" Rose rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. A smirk crept up his face. Rose decided she definitely preferred Scorpius when he was unconscious.

Suddenly his smirk turned into a grin and he squeezed her in a bone-crushing hug. She couldn't even breathe.

"Oi, out my personal space, Malfoy! Geroff me! I still haven't forgiven you, you know!"

He let go and looked at her in confusion as the door to the potions room flung open to reveal a furious Professor Totternhoe. She had jaw length black hair and a blunt fringe that hit well above her high arched eyebrows and her lips were always painted dark red. Rose was reminded an awful lot of a vampire.

"Were you two miscreants planning on joining my class any time today?" she asked, arms folded. When neither of them replied she dragged them by their ears into the classroom. "Why are you late?"

"I- er- well I was-"

"She was visiting me in the hospital wing, professor. I've only just come out of it-"

"Silence! I don't want to hear your silly alibis. Detention at six o'clock prompt on Saturday, my office, both of you," she snarled.

Detention! Rose had never had detention in all her seven years at Hogwarts! What would her mother say? What would her grandma say? What would -

"Stop standing there like a fool, Weasley, sit down!" barked Professor Totternhoe. "And I'll be telling your Head of House about this so they can give their own punishment as well."

Rose wasn't too worried about Totternhoe telling Professor Longbottom about her being late. He was a family friend and had a soft spot for the Weasleys and Potters.

She muttered an apology and took her seat next to her potions partner, Anjali. She gave her a quizzical look but Rose just groaned into her hands.

"Before I was rudely interrupted," said the Professor, glaring at Rose and Scorpius, "I was telling you all to carry on with the Amortentia potions you started last lesson. However, I suddenly feel like setting a spontaneous pop quiz. Get out a fresh piece of parchment and quill and we'll get started."

Rose swore she saw Professor Totternhoe smirk when the students grumbled in protest.

As Professor Totternhoe read out question eight, the door flew open and Professor Flitwick appeared looking very anxious.

"Can I help you?" she sneered. Ah, so it wasn't just the students she treated like dirt. She was even rude to the Deputy Headmaster.

Professor Flitwick stood on his tiptoes and scanned the classroom until he found Scorpius and looked straight into his eyes.

"Mr Malfoy, you are needed in the Headmistress's office immediately."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Keep on reading (and review!) I respond to them all :)<strong>_


	6. Pygmy Puff

**Chapter 6- Pygmy Puff**  
><em><strong><br>Disclaimer: Joanne Kathleen Rowling owns the Harry Potter world.**_

"I wonder why Malfoy got sent to see the Head. He must've done something really bad," said Anjali as she dropped some crushed Moonstone powder into her cauldron.

Rose shrugged. "I guess."

"How come you aren't bothered? Aren't you two, like, really close friends or something?"

She shrugged again. "Kind of, but not as close as we used to be."

Anjali nodded understandingly. "He really ought to apologize."

"I know."

"I can't believe you got detention. Who would've thought? I can see it making the front page in the _Prophet_: _Rose Weasley, Hogwarts' Golden Girl, Gets Detention_," Anjali sniggered.

"It's not funny!" Rose pouted. She glared at Professor Totternhoe praising Poppy on her work. "I hate that woman. She is evil."

"She's not that bad to her own house. So, how come you two were late?" Anjali asked, winking at Rose. "Spending a bit of quality time together, were you?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "What is this, twenty questions? I was visiting him in the hospital wing, like he told Totty. Regardless of what he's done, he's still my friend and I don't like seeing my friends close to death."

"I still can't believe Thomas Harper did that. He must really have something against Scorpius, sending a Bludger at him twice! Apparently Flitwick gave him detention for the rest of term."

Rose nodded and stirred her cauldron until it had a mother-of-pearl sheen and spiralling steam rose from it. She breathed in deeply the wonderful scent of old books, sandalwood and apple pie.

"Wow, Rose, that smells so good! Orange blossom… wet grass… How did you do that?" Anjali stared glumly at her own cauldron filled with dark gloop. "Sometimes I wonder how I even managed to get into this class…"

"I think you need more Ashwinder eggs ," she said, glancing at Anjali's potion.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about those." Anjali eagerly added more eggs and her potion soon turned the correct shade. "Huh, turns out I'm not such a Hufflepuff after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know, Hufflepuffs aren't exactly intelligent, are they?"

"Yes they are! My cousin Louis is in Hufflepuff and he's great!"

"No offence, but they're kind of boring and good at nothing in particular."

"Anjali, that's just not true. Hufflepuffs are friendly, dedicated, loyal, modest and particularly good finders! You are such a judgemental Slytherin sometimes."

"And you're such a whiny Gryffindor."

"But you love me really," Rose said throwing her arms around her neck. Anjali rolled her eyes and flipped her black hair over her shoulder.

"The hour is up. Hand in your Amortentia in a flask and once you've cleared up your area you may leave," said Professor Totternhoe in a monotone. She turned her gaze to a group of giggling girls at the back of the classroom and added, "Remember that the use of love potions on other students is not permitted at Hogwarts, and anyone using it will be expelled."

Rose put her flask on the front desk and turned to leave, but Professor Totternhoe grinned wickedly, exposing her fangs, and called, "Weasley. Don't forget about detention, and remind Mr Malfoy, won't you?" Rose nodded and scuttled out of the room.

A whole evening locked in a room with Professor Totternhoe and Scorpius Malfoy? She dreaded Saturday already.

* * *

><p>"What the bloody hell! You'll have to tell Totternhoe you can't go to detention, Rose," said Dom as she rushed around the dormitory to find her shoes.<p>

"I can't. To be frank, she's way too scary," Rose replied timidly.

"Well, you'll have limited time with Fabian in Hogsmeade, so you'd better make the most of it."

Rose was sitting on her bed wearing jeans and a flowery top. She had spent a good deal of time getting ready that morning. Dom had chased her round the common room trying to force her to wear a dress for over an hour, but eventually gave in when Lizzie took Rose's side and let her wear what she wanted.

"So, we're meeting at The Three Broomsticks at three o'clock, right?" she asked, getting up and fetching her bag.

"Yes. Lizzie and I will meet you there."

She gave Rose a hug and wished her good luck before shoving her out of the dormitory.

"Rose?" she heard Lizzie call.

She stuck her head back through the door, "Yes?"

"You forgot your shoes."

Rose quickly slipped on her flats before walking to the Entrance Hall to meet Fabian. She suddenly felt nervous. She hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid or embarrassing like on her last date. It had been during summer break and she went to the cinema with a Muggle; they watched a horror movie and it was just too nauseating for Rose, she felt like being sick. Her mum had to come pick her up after just half an hour.

Never. Again.

Fabian was leaning against a wall muttering to himself and looked a little anxious.

"Hi Fabian!" Rose waved as she walked over to him. He stood up straight and grinned at her.

"You look great!"

"You too," she smiled back.

They stood there grinning at each other until Fabian said, "Er- shall we go then?"

"Yeah, let's go." They gave Filch their permission slips and walked down the steps.

Fabian reached out and took her hand in his as they followed the rest of the students to Hogsmeade.

"Quite a Quidditch match last weekend, wasn't it?" Fabian said.

"Yeah, it was close," replied Rose. "It wasn't very sportsmanlike of the Beater to attack the Slytherin team afterwards, though."

"Oh, yeah, that was awful. Thomas, the Beater, is actually a friend of mine. He's not usually that violent at all… he's quite quiet. I think he just takes Quidditch too seriously sometimes."

"It's just a game, no reason to get aggressive!"

_Stop yelling at the guy, you're on a date with him!_she told herself.

"Yeah. He feels really bad about it now, though. Plus, he's serving detention for ages and he lost his Hogsmeade privileges. This morning he was skulking around the dormitory and he's probably still there now. So, he's kind of got his just desserts."

Rose nodded once.

"I've got to give it to Slytherin, though… Malfoy did quite a dive to get the Snitch," said Fabian.

"Yeah… so have you finished Muggle Studies homework?" she said hastily.

"He didn't give us any, did he?" Fabian asked, looking confused.

"Oh… right. I forgot."

She blushed. Fabian gave her a small smile. Knowing that Fabian knew she was blushing made her blush even more. Oh, the cruelty of being pale!

It started drizzling lightly with rain, but Rose was determined to have a good day.

They entered the picturesque little village and wandered up the high street peering into shop windows, still holding hands.

"Is there anywhere in particular you want to go?" Fabian asked.

"Not really. I could do with getting a new quill though; the nib's a bit dodgy on my current one."

On the way to Scrivenshaft's they paused outside Madame Puddifoot's.

"I hate that tea shop," Fabian muttered, staring at the building in disgust.

Rose breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. I've never been in there myself, but I've heard bad things about that place."

They laughed and Rose told him about her Uncle Harry's disastrous first date as they reached Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.

"I'm gonna go get some ink, see you in a minute," said Fabian. He wandered off down an isle leaving Rose to browse the quills.

There were big quills, small quills, colourful quills, black quills, spotty quills, stripy quills, fluffy quills and ratty quills. In the end she decided to get a purple one that was on offer.

She looked at the funny shaped ink pots. There was one shaped like a Snitch with fluttery wings that she thought Scorpius might like as a get well present. Well, more like an 'I'm-glad-you-got-well' present. It was only a few galleons, so she reached out to get it but her hand bumped into someone else's.

"Scorpius!" she said, surprised.

"Oh… hi Rose," he mumbled.

She noticed their hands were still touching and quickly pulled her arm back.

"How come you're not with Al?"

"I needed some time alone."

She looked up at him and saw that his eyes were red and puffy and he looked tired.

"Scorp! Why are you crying?"

"I'm not!"

She put her hands on her hips and looked at him appraisingly. "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, your eyes are all glazed over, you look down in the dumps and you have circles under your eyes. Something is up."

He quickly wiped at his eyes and muttered something about, "hay fever."

"You've never complained of hay fever before."

He shrugged. "Were you going to buy that ink? I thought you weren't really into Quidditch."

"Oh, you take it if you want it."

"Nah, I was just looking," he said before waving half-heartedly and leaving the store.

That was weird. Scorpius was usually one of the most animated people she knew. It wasn't like him to act so forlorn.

"Ready to pay?" Fabian appeared next to her. He held a little bag with _Scrivenshaft's Quills_printed on the front.

She nodded and paid for her quill and pot of ink, asking the shop keeper to wrap the ink up as a gift, before following Fabian into the street. They passed Dom, Ethan, Al and Lizzie, the latter looking very giggly walking with Albus Potter. Rose felt bad for Ethan as he was carrying all of Dom's bags from Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

They passed a row of beauty shops and a bunch of fifth years came out of a pharmacy.

"Is it just my imagination or did Professor Wright just walk out of 'Witches Waxing Parlour'?" chuckled Fabian.

"Oh my gosh, he did!" Rose burst into a fit of giggles. Professor Wright looked rather pleased with himself as he strolled down the street. "I remember in third year I saw Professor Totty coming out of the hairdressing salon and I was so shocked. It's still weird to think of teachers having a life outside of school."

They spent the next few hours in Honeydukes, Tomes and Scrolls (Rose loved books), Dominic Maestro's Music Shop (Fabian loved music) and the Hogsmeade branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The company had been very successful and opened new branches all around Europe since the last Wizarding War.

As they were browsing the products in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes a pink ball of fluff in the WonderWitch section caught Rose's eye.

"Hello, cutie," she cooed, stroking its soft fur.

"Ah, you have stumbled across our Pygmy Puffs, I see," said Uncle George strolling up to her.

"She's so cute!"

"Yes, they are very popular amongst the young witches."

"How much is she?"

"Seven galleons."

"How much for me?"

"Seven galleons."

"But I'm family!"

Rose pouted her lips and gave her uncle the puppy dog eyes.

"Please? For me, your loving niece?"

Uncle George sighed. "Fine. You can take her for free, Rosie. But remember to tell all your friends where you got her from!"

"I will Uncle George! Thank you! She's called Georgie, after you." She picked Georgie out of her cage and patted her head.

"I'm flattered. And who's this young gentlemen?" he gestured to Fabian.

"I'm Fabian, sir. Fabian Foster."

"Ah, well I'm glad little Rosie has someone special to keep her company," he winked, causing them both to blush.

Rose grinned and hugged her uncle before she left the shop. If only her father was that permitting with her having friends-who-were-boys… Roxy was so lucky to have such a tolerant dad. Then again, he'd probably react differently if it were his own daughter. As she walked out the door she heard Uncle George laughing to himself, "I can't wait till Ron finds out."

"Shall we go get something to drink in the Three Broomsticks?" asked Rose as they came out of the shop. Georgie was resting on her shoulder, squeaking happily. "I promised my friends I'd meet them there. Obviously, you can sit with us too."

"Yeah, I could really do with a Butterbeer."

The rain had picked up heavier than before so they were glad to go into the warmth and comfort the Three Broomsticks had to offer.

"Hey Rose! Over here!" called Dom. Rose and Fabian fought their way through the crowd towards her.

She was sitting at a table with Lizzie, Al and Scorpius, who looked strangely disgruntled to see them holding hands. He didn't look as if he'd been crying any more though, and he looked happier to be around his friends. She let go of Fabian's hand and sat down beside Dom.

"I'll go get our drinks," said Fabian. "What do you want?"

"Just a Butterbeer, please. Here's some money." She tried to pass him her coins but he wouldn't take them.

"How's your date going, Rose?" Dom said as soon as Fabian left to get the drinks.

"Really well," she smiled, conscious that Al and Scorpius were listening in.

"Have you kissed yet?"

Scorpius stiffened. Rose blushed and didn't answer. She did _not_want to go into details in front of them, even if all they had done was hold hands, and Dom seemed to catch on to this and asked no further questions.

"Your Pygmy Puff is adorable, Rose!" said Lizzie leaning across the table to stroke her. She hated awkward silences more than anyone and was always quick to end them.

"Thanks, she's called Georgie. Where's Ethan, Dom?"

"Oh, I dumped him," she replied casually, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"What? Why?"

"He bored me. He's good for carrying shopping bags, sure, but he hardly said a word. Plus, I caught him staring at Abigail Millington when we were in Madam Malkin's. So I told him to get lost just before we came in here."

"Hey, you can't really blame the guy," said Al. "Abigail is not bad to look at."

The girls rolled their eyes and Lizzie looked a little hurt.

"Too right," added Scorpius. Rose's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell Poppy I said that."

"Don't tell me you're dating that witch?" spat Dom.

"Dom, we're all witches," Lizzie pointed out.

"Oh, you know what I mean."

"No, of course I'm not. She's just really possessive of me for some reason. Whenever I talk to another girl, she yells at me as if I'm cheating on her or something. It's kind of creepy." His gaze rested on Rose. "Especially you, Rose. She hates it if I talk to you."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Well then, tell her to leave you alone! She can't decide who you can and cannot speak with."

"Believe me, I've tried. I think she might Obliviate herself into thinking I like her."

"What about Scarlett?" Rose couldn't help but ask. "Are you going out with her?"

Al narrowed his eyes and glared at his best friend, waiting for his answer. Before Scorpius could reply, Fabian arrived back at the table.

"Here's your drink," he said, sitting down beside Rose.

She smiled at him and unbolted the lid.

They all chatted for a bit and Rose's friends got to know Fabian. A while later Dom decided she wanted to visit Uncle George in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Lizzie said she'd go with her. Al and Scorpius wanted to head back to the castle. So Rose and Fabian resolved to leave the pub too.

For the next hour they just strolled around the village getting to know each other better. Rose found out that Fabian wanted to be in a professional music band when he was older but if that didn't work out he wanted to become a Healer, he had two little brothers in first year who were twins; one was in Gryffindor and one was in Ravenclaw, his grandfather had died during the First Wizarding War, and he really hated books about vampires. Rose told him all about her family and interests too.

After going round the whole village twice, Rose checked her watch; it was twenty past five.

"I guess we'd better head back to castle now. I have detention soon."

Fabian raised his eyebrows. "Really? Detention? How come?"

"I was late for potions. Honestly, it's so unfair. You were late for Muggle Studies not long ago, yet you didn't get punished at all!"

"I'm just so charming, Rose, the teachers can't bear to discipline me," he teased.

Soon they arrived back at Hogwarts. When they were about to enter the front doors, Rose thought she could hear someone crying nearby. She hated seeing people upset. She told Fabian to wait in the Entrance Hall for her while she had a look.

She crept around the corner and saw someone with long dark hair sitting on a bench with their back to her, sobbing their heart out. Rose thought it looked an awful lot like her cousin Roxanne, so she tentatively walked over and sat down.

"Roxy?" she whispered, putting her arm round her. "What's wrong?"

A ghostly pale face snapped up to face her, and it definitely was not Roxy.

"Parkinson?" gasped Rose, removing her arms from around her shoulder immediately.

"What do you want, Weasley?" Poppy snarled, wiping under her eyes where her mascara had run.

"I, er… you were crying."

"Shut up, this is none of your business!" she yelped. "Just sod off. Don't you have studying to do?"

Rose didn't need to be told twice. She stood up to leave, but hesitated. Poppy looked really upset. Not just the usual _my-boyfriend-broke-up-with-me_ upset, but a _something-seriously-dreadful-happened _upset. Rose didn't know whether to stay where she was or get the hell out of there. Even though Poppy had been picking on her since first year, she didn't like seeing her so helpless and frail. So she sat back down.

"What's happened?" she said in a strangled voice.

Poppy turned round to face her. "Nothing you would care about! You're Rose fricking Weasley, Miss Perfect, the teacher's pet! You hate me. My life means nothing to you!" she wailed, more tears streaming down her cheeks. She abruptly stood up from the bench and ran inside the school, leaving Rose sitting there in shock. The only sound that could be heard was Georgie squeaking on her shoulder.

What was it with people crying today?

She noticed Poppy had dropped a letter on the floor by the bench. Rose considered leaving it there… but that would be littering. Poppy said it was none of her business… but it might be about something important. It would be invading Poppy's privacy… but Rose was _really_curious.

In the end she decided to pick it up and swiftly put it in her bag. She could give it back to her later.

When she finally returned to the entrance hall she found Fabian sitting on the bottom step looking a little bored. He looked up when she approached and asked why Poppy Parkinson had just gone running past in tears. Rose shrugged and said she honestly had no idea.

Fabian walked Rose up to Gryffindor tower and turned to face her outside the entrance to the common room.

"Thanks for walking me all the way up here, Fabian, you didn't have to."

"Eh, it was no problem. I have to climb a load of stairs any way to get to Ravenclaw tower."

He started slowly leaning in towards her, and Rose's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"What are you doing?" she blurted.

Fabian jumped back, surprised. "I was just, er, about to, well, to kiss you," he mumbled. "Is there something wrong?"

"No! No, sorry. Erm, carry on." She could feel her ears heat up- thank Merlin for long hair.

He gave her a nervous smile which she returned. She hoped her breath smelt alright. What was the last thing she had to eat or drink? Butterbeer… hmm, butterbeer smelt good. She should be alright then. His face inched closer to hers and Rose closed her eyes –

"Ahem. Mr Foster, Miss Weasley, what is going on here?" spoke the irritating voice of Professor Wright as he strolled up towards them. Rose's eyes flashed open and she sprung back into the wall.

"Nothing," they said together.

He raised his eyebrows and stared at them for a while. There was a long silence until finally he puckered his lips and carried on down the corridor.

"Honestly, I think that man might be the bane of my existence," muttered Rose looking down and shuffling her feet. Fabian chuckled gently.

"I heard that," Professor Wright called over his shoulder.

Fabian tilted her chin up and once she was looking at him he kissed her. Her eyes fluttered shut instinctively. It was a short and gentle kiss, but it left Rose smiling nonetheless.

However she couldn't help but notice how there was no spark, how she wasn't in euphoria or bliss like Dom always rambled on about. Maybe she was just overthinking it. The spark stuff was probably just a myth anyway.

They broke apart when they heard Professor Wright clapping. The sneaky old fool had crept back to watch them! Rose's cheeks heated up. Great, now she resembled a tomato. They gave him a pointed look and he took the hint and left them alone again.

Rose turned back to Fabian and squeezed his hand. "Today was really fun."

"Yeah it was, we'll have to do it again sometime. I'll see you soon?"

"Definitely," Rose said. She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He turned around to leave. As he was about to turn a corner he turned back around and waved before going out of sight.

Rose leaned back against the wall and slid down against it and sighed. That hadn't gone too badly. But it hadn't felt perfect like she'd expected it to…

"Ow!" she yelped. Someone had stepped out of the portrait and stood on her head.

"Bloody hell! Rosie?" said Hugo, her fifteen-year-old brother.

She looked up and him and gave him a small forced smile. He watched as she slowly stood back up.

He suddenly looked furious. "Who did this to you? I'll kill them! Give me the name, Rose, and they'll never see daylight again, I assure you!"

"No one did anything to me, Hugh," Rose held back a laugh. "Don't worry about it."

"Alright, but if anyone does do anything… you know where to find me."

"I got it, Hugo, thanks."

He nodded and walked off. Rose loved having a protective little brother.

With a sigh she sunk back down the wall again, a little further away from the portrait this time in case someone else stood on her head, and tried to sort out her muddled mind.

A few minutes later Lizzie and Dom came up the stairs and approached her.

"Rose? Aren't you meant to be in detention?"

"Damn!" She got up and ran like a bullet all the way down to the dungeons.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Aaand that was the Hogsmeade visit. Review please :) I_ think_ I've replied to them all so far, but I'm still new to this site and it confuses me. :P **


	7. Greeneyed Monster

**Chapter 7- Green-eyed Monster  
><strong>

Rose looked down at the rag she was holding and grunted in disgust. It was dripping with foul-smelling purple gunk which made her eyes sting, like when she was back at the Burrow peeling onions for her nana. She looked up and met the beady eyes of Professor Totternhoe who was marking some work while Rose and Scorpius were scrubbing cauldrons clean. They weren't allowed to use magic; Totternhoe liked to use a hands-on approach in her detentions.

"Stop dilly-dallying, Weasley, get back to work! I want to see my reflection in these cauldrons once you're done with them!" she spat.

_The cauldrons might shatter into a million pieces if you look at them,_Rose thought bitterly as she resumed cleaning the cauldron. It was so frustrating having to clean the Muggle way when a simple Scouring charm would do the job.

Once she'd finished she placed it on the table with all the other finished cauldrons and picked up a new one. It was covered in what looked like rat poop. Rose looked it over once and shuddered.

A few minutes there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," drawled Professor Totternhoe.

"Ah, Professor, I didn't realise you were busy," said an elderly dark-haired witch from the doorway as she peered at the two students.

"Not at all, Septima."

"Your presence is required in the hospital wing. A student's face is covered in boils and Madam Pomfrey thinks he might've taken a bad potion, but she wants your word to be sure. It won't take a moment."

"Of course." Professor Totternhoe strolled towards the door, but turned to Rose and Scorpius and said in a malevolent tone, "Do not, under any circumstances, leave this room while I'm gone. I don't care if the Dark Lord appears and kills one of you; I want the other to continue on with your punishment and think about what you did."

Once she had left the dungeons Rose rolled her eyes and looked over at Scorpius on the other side of the room. He was leaning back on a chair with his arms behind his neck yawning loudly. All the cauldrons in front of him were perfectly polished.

"How did you do that so fast?" she squealed.

"Do what?" he opened an eye to look at her.

"Clean the cauldrons!"

He rolled his eyes. "I used a little something called magic, Rosie. You should use it sometime."

She gasped. "But she told us we have to do it by hand!"

"Don't get your knickers in a twist. Honestly, you need to live a little. It's not like she's ever gonna know." He suddenly raised his eyebrows at her. "Unless you were planning to tell on me."

"Of course not, I'm not a snitch."

"Really, Rose? But I think you are, and I just happen to be a Seeker," he winked.

Rose stared at him with an indifferent expression for a few seconds until she exploded with giggles. She actually snorted a few times after which she ceased laughing immediately and tried to conceal them with a casual cough.

"What?" he said a little shyly.

"Nothing," she tried to hold back another giggle.

He stared at her and wouldn't look away.

"What?" she said self-consciously.

"You've got purple gunk on your face."

She blushed and promptly raised the dirty cloth to her face to wipe it off, but she ended up with the stuff all over her cheeks.

"Stop laughing at me!" she protested as he chuckled. He laughed harder. She walked over to him and punched his arm as hard as she could.

"Oi!" he punched her back lightly.

"Didn't you mother ever tell you not to hurt a girl?" she said as she rubbed her arm. It didn't really hurt, but hey, it was fun making Scorpius feel bad.

"Yeah, but I'm a rebel. I don't do what my mommy tells me."

She sat down on the nearest stool and cradled her arm.

"I didn't really hurt you, did I?" He looked uncertain.

"I think it might be bruised," she muttered.

"Rose, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to actually hurt you…"

"Hmm. You could always make it up to me."

"How?"

"Give me a massage?"

He sighed. "Sure."

Scorpius started kneading her shoulders and she closed her eyes and smiled giddily.

"Man, I needed that," she muttered.

She got up and went back to cleaning the cauldrons.

"I thought your arm hurt?" he exclaimed.

"I was kidding," she shrugged.

"You bloody minx!" he pounced on her and tickled her stomach.

Rose shook violently as she gasped for breath. "Please – have – mercy – "

"Only if you admit Slytherin is the best house!"

"No – way!" she breathed. He narrowed his eyes and knew he had to take this a step further.

"Not the ribs!" she squeaked, but to no avail. "Okay, okay! SLYTHERIN IS THE BESTEST EVER!"

"Stop messing around! Get back to work!" spat Professor Totternhoe as she returned to the dungeon.

Rose grudgingly scrambled back up off the cold floor, but not before catching Scorpius' smug expression.

"Tosser," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe it. Our Muggle Studies class is creating a magazine without magic to see how the Muggles make them and you put yourself forward to be the <em>agony aunt<em>," said Dom in the Great Hall during lunch. She looked at Rose as if she had sprouted another two heads and walked about calling herself Fluffy. "You can't even sort out your own problems, let alone other people's."

"I think it's great, Rose. You're awesome at giving advice," said Lizzie hastily when she noticed Rose's hurt expression.

"I didn't _want_to be the agony aunt. Professor Wright made me take it since it was the only job left."

"Well that just sucks, doesn't it?" Dom rolled her eyes. "You should've been paying attention instead of making googly eyes at Fabian, and maybe you would've got to do fashion with me."

"I was _not_–"

"You were practically snogging in the middle of class –"

"Dom! We were not–"

"Don't even try denying it, Ro."

"I hate you."

"Love you too, cuz."

"And don't call me Ro."

"Sure thing, Ro."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, so Wright told me to tell people to put their questions in the box in the entrance hall."

There was a few seconds silence.

"Go on, then."

"What, now?"

"Well nah, the next millennium would be fine!"

Rose gulped and stood up from the bench. "Um, excuse me everyone, if I could have your attention..."

A couple of fourth years sitting nearby turned their heads towards her, but that was all the response she got.

She coughed loudly. "I've got an announcement to make."

After an awkward pause even the fourth years looked away and all the blood rushed to Rose's cheeks.

"I pity you, Rosie," sighed Dom. She clambered on to the wooden table, careful to avoid getting mashed potato in her heels, and clattered a glass and a fork together to gather everyone's attention. All eyes were instantly on her. She flashed an enchanting smile only a Veela's great granddaughter could pull off.

"Hi, everyone," she began, looking around the Great Hall. "Just wanted to let you know that a new agony aunt programme has been set up by the lovely Rose Weasley and if you want to ask her a question about love and life and all that bollocks, write it on a bit of parchment and pop in it in the box in the entrance hall. It'll all be done anonymously, of course. Ta!"

"Miss Weasley, get down from that table immediately and watch your language!" warned a tired looking Professor McGonagall from the Head's table.

"Sorry, Professor!" Dom called sweetly.

She hopped off the table as the students began chattering amongst themselves and grinned at her cousin. "See that, Rose? It wasn't so hard."

"Shut up. People only listen to the gorgeous blonde girls these days. What's happened to the world?" Rose said, staring up at the gloomy ceiling of the Great Hall.

"Nah, you're just socially awkward."

"Once again, shut up," she muttered as she ladled more carrots onto her plate.

"So, er, Rose, how has your day been?" Lizzie asked. Rose turned to look at her with a confused expression.

"Fine, I guess. Merlin knows how I'm going to find time to complete all my homework and revise for all the upcoming tests, but Fabian said we could have a study session at the weekend."

She was about to continue eating her vegetables in peace when Lizzie cried, "Look at me!"

"Um, you feeling okay Lizzie?"

"Just don't turn around!"

"Why not?" Rose was itching to see what was making her friend so alarmed.

"Oh my Godric! _Gross!_PDA alert! Malfoy and Bell are sucking face," said Dom in disgust. "I don't think I can eat anymore."

Rose whipped round to see that Scorpius and Scarlett were indeed looking very intimate by the door way. Her heart sunk and she felt completely betrayed. She was desperate to look away but her eyes stayed glued onto them.

"You alright, Rose?" Lizzie asked gently as she put her hand on Rose's shoulder.

"How could he?" she hissed. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"A hot blonde Slytherin in need of a girlfriend?" offered Dom. "There's no need to be jealous, Rose, really. I don't like repeating myself, but as I said weeks ago, Malfoy's not worth it and you should get over him. You have Fabian now."

Rose opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. She agreed with Dom, but it didn't make her feel any better. She tore her eyes away and her feet marched her over to the Ravenclaw table where Fabian was chatting with his friends. On the way she passed Al who stormed by Scorpius and Scarlett and out of the Great Hall looking murderous.

"Hey there," Fabian smiled up at her mid-conversation. "What's up?"

She took a deep breath and sat down half on his lap before her brain could catch up with her actions and force herself to stop. She grabbed his face and forced her lips roughly onto his.

"Whit-woo!"

A short while later she pulled back for air and Fabian looked confused, shocked but very satisfied.

"I've missed you," he breathed.

"You too." She pecked his cheek and grabbed his hand before strolling out of the hall, making sure to flash Scorpius a sweet smile as she passed him.

"Oh dear. What _are _we going to do with her?" sighed Lizzie at the same time Dom facepalmed.

* * *

><p>After classes finished for the day, Rose felt absolutely exhausted and wanted to catch up on some sleep before doing her homework. When she chucked her bag on the floor it landed upside down and all her books slid out onto the wooden floor. She cursed and started packing them back in when a loose piece of parchment caught her eye from the bottom of her bag. Rose unfolded it and realised it was the letter Poppy had dropped on Saturday. Before she could stop herself she sat down on her bed next to Georgie the pygmy puff and began to read.<p>

_Poppy,  
>I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your father's trial went terribly and he has been condemned to a lifelong imprisonment in Azkaban. They didn't believe he was under the imperious curse all those years ago, and neither do I. But I know how much he means to you even though he and I don't get along. I'm very sorry darling, but you must remember he committed some awful crimes in the past and now he has to pay for those mistakes.<br>Hope to see you soon,_

_Mum  
><em>  
>Rose stared at the letter and realised it had splotches of dry tears all over it, making some of the words illegible. Now she understood why Poppy had been so upset.<p>

She briefly remembered a few months ago hearing her father and Uncle Harry discussing a prisoner who had confessed the names of other ex-death eaters. Even though Poppy's father was obviously a ruthless man, working for Voldemort and all, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She'd be heartbroken to lose her own father and couldn't imagine her life without him.

"Rose? What're you doing in here?" asked Dom as she peered into the dormitory. "The new issue of Witch Weekly has just come if you want to read it with us."

"I'll pass. I think I'm just gonna sleep for a while." Upon seeing Dom's dejected expression, Rose added, "Don't throw it away, though, I want to read it when you're done!"

Dom grinned. "Sure thing, Ro-Ro."

Rose sighed as she rested her head against the pillow and closed her eyes, still clutching the parchment in her fist.

Suddenly the years of being tormented by Poppy Parkinson were forgotten, and until she finally fell asleep Rose's thoughts were of how distraught her arch-nemesis must be feeling this very moment.


	8. Dear Rose

**Chapter 8- Dear Rose**  
><em><br>_  
>Rose awoke from her two hour nap feeling even drowsier than before but decided her Charms homework was more important that her mental wellbeing. In the library she noticed Lizzie curled up in the corner reading a book and went over to her.<p>

"Heyah Lizzie. What 'cha doing?"

"Nothing much. Just wallowing in self-pity is all."

"Aw, how come? Tell Rose the agony aunt all about it."

Lizzie giggled as Rose took a seat beside her.

"I tried talking to Al. Get to know him better and all that. But all he wanted to talk about was Scarlett bloody Bell! It was driving me insane! Does he not _see _that I'm here right under his nose?"

Hearing Scarlett's name made Rose's blood boil.

"Ah, the woes of unrequited love," said Rose, giving Lizzie's shoulders a squeeze.

"Elizabeth Potter. Lizzie Lola Potter. Mrs Elizabeth Lola Potter. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Lizzie put her head on Rose's shoulder. "How come he doesn't like me, Rosie?" she added in a whisper.

"He doesn't know what he's missing. He's bound to notice you one day. Anyway, I blame Scarlett Bell. She's the cause of all our problems! We need to find a way to bring her down a notch. Perhaps we should give James and Freddie a call…"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "It's not her fault she's so pretty. It's also not fair of you to expect Scorpius to stay single forever, you know."

"Yeah, but without her around, you could have Al and I could- I mean, Scorpius would be free from her wickedness."

"She's not wicked. She's lovely. Did you know she's actually the unofficial first year prefect for Slytherin? Apparently they all go to her for homework help and stuff. Al told me all this. I think he's been following her. And she's pretty and clever and good at Quidditch and –"

"Okay, okay, I get it! She's Miss Perfect."

"Yeah. That's probably why Al likes her so much." Rose's heart ached to see her friend look so miserable. She decided she'd have a talk with Al later.

"She's not going out with Al though- she's going out with the school's biggest imbecile we know as Scorpius Malfoy."

"You created quite a spectacle at lunch today." When Rose didn't reply, she added, "You still like Scorpius."

"Wha- no! No, I don't. I'm over that."

"So why are you trying to make him jealous?"

"I'm not!"

"And I'm not in love with Albus Potter. Listen, Rose, if you like Scorpius you shouldn't be with Fabian. Simples."

"Be quiet. I need to do my homework."

Lizzie gave Rose a knowing smile. "You're either lying to me or in denial. Or both."

Rose stuck her tongue out and pulled out her homework. She didn't care what Lizzie said. She definitely wasn't in denial; she liked Fabian and that was that.

* * *

><p>"Hi ladies," said Scorpius smoothly as he joined them at their table in the library a short while later.<p>

"Hi," Lizzie replied awkwardly. Rose didn't even look up from her essay.

"Have you seen Al lately? I think he might be avoiding me."

"I wonder why," Rose muttered and rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius frowned, his eyebrows knitted together.

When Rose didn't reply Lizzie answered in a defeated tone, "Al's angry that you're with Scarlett."

Scorpius looked genuinely surprised. "Oh. He could have just told me that instead of running away from me."

Lizzie shrugged. Scorpius tapped his fingers on the table top.

"I heard that you've become the school agony aunt, Rose. I have to admit I was quite surprised."

Rose ignored him.

"Nice weather isn't it?" he said after a few minutes, glancing out the window at the light drizzle and grey clouds.

"Not really… um, I'm just gonna go look for a book, or something," said Lizzie as she scrambled away.

As soon as Lizzie was out of ear shot he said, "I enjoyed your attempt at making me jealous in the Great Hall, Rose. Very mature."

This made Rose look up from her work.

"What are you talking about?" She slammed her quill onto the desk and crossed her arms.

"I think someone's a little jealous of Poppy and I," he smirked, lazily putting his hands behind his head and leaning back.

"N- no way!" she spluttered. "Get over yourself."

"I don't think you're promoting the correct image of yourself to the populace of Hogwarts, throwing yourself at Foster," he went on. "Not very lady like at all."

"You can talk!" she said in outrage while her cheeks flushed pink. "Standing there snogging Scarlett like there's no tomorrow while we were all trying to eat our lunch! It was absolutely disgusting!"

"Merlin, Rose, you're almost glowing green with envy. No need for it, though, there's enough of me to go around," he said with a wink.

Rose gasped indignantly and stood up from her seat, attracting a few weird looks. She raised her arm and slapped him hard across the cheek. "How dare you! I'm currently taken, thank you very much, and so are you! You can't just go around flirting with other girls! You're such a pig. An absolute swine." With one last huff she swirled around and marched out of the library. A bit of her dignity was lost, however, when she had to return to collect her bag before exiting the library once again.

"What_ is_her problem?" he mumbled to himself, cradling his burning cheek as he watched her retreating figure.

"Dude, you just got owned by a girl!" sniggered Bertie McGee, who was avidly observing the scene from behind a bookshelf.

* * *

><p>Rose regained her composure once she left the library and decided she might as well check her agony aunt box in the entrance hall to see if anyone had left her a question. She wasn't expecting much but felt a bubble of excitement none the less.<p>

She opened the lid of the cardboard box and was surprised to see dozens of letters stuffed inside. Once she was back in her dormitory she found Caitlyn and Leila gossiping about Ethan Hill while Dom was happily ignoring them, giving herself a French manicure. She sat on Dom's bed and eagerly examined her letters.

_Dear Rose,  
>I think I'm in love with the Giant Squid. Its eyes shine like a pond in which the fish of beauty swim. How can I go about asking her on a date, and more importantly how can I get my parents to approve?<br>Tentacle Lover  
><em>

"Look at this one," she said, passing the note to Dom who snorted.

"I'll do the reply to this one," she replied with a grin.

_**Dear Tentacle Lover,**_

_**March up to that Squid, look her in the eye and tell her you love her. I'm sure your parents will accept your love once they see how deeply you care for one another. I wish you a long and happy relationship!  
>Rose<strong>_

Several more of the letters were asking how to get crushes to notice them. Rose thought it was ironic how she was giving this advice to people when she could never get her own crushes to notice her.

_Dear Rose,  
>I really like this guy but he doesn't even know I exist! Well, he does, but he doesn't seem to take much interest in me. He goes on and on about this other girl while I gaze into his dreamy green eyes and wonder how soft his black hair is… please help me.<br>Miss Invisible _

_**Dear Miss Invisible,  
>Keep on waiting. I wouldn't say this about most guys but I know this one is worth it! Maybe you could go out with some other people in the mean time until one day he'll see what he's missing out on. He'll come around. I know it's early days yet, but you totally have to make me bridesmaid at the wedding!<br>Rose**_

Dear Rose,  
>There's this girl I like. We've been friends for ages and I keep trying to drop subtle hints to her but I don't think she likes me back. What should I do?<br>Siriusly Confused

****_**Dear Siriusly Confused,  
>My advice to you would be to shower her in compliments, be sweet to her and maybe make it more obvious that you like her. She might not be catching on to these subtle hints. If she starts to show signs of liking you back ask her out on a date and see where it goes from there. Good luck!<br>Rose**_

"_Siriusly_Confused? Really?" Dom said, reading over Rose's shoulder.

"Eh, I thought it was quite clever actually."

_Dear Rose  
>There's this boy that keeps popping up everywhere I go. I think he's stalking me. Like, yesterday I came out the girls' toilets and he was right outside leaning against the wall, casually reading a book! HAHA! Anyway, I find it really unsettling. What should I do?<br>Creeped Out_

_**Dear Creeped Out,  
>The best thing to do would be to confront him. Tell him it's bothering you and to lay off! No one likes a creeper.<br>Rose**__  
><em>

After answering several more questions she called it a day. She put them safe in her bag to hand to Professor Wright the next Muggle Studies lesson. Her brain was nagging her to get that stupid homework done. Not wanting to run into Scorpius again she packed her bag and headed outside.

The grass was damp from the rain but she settled on a dry patch under a beech tree at the edge of the lake and splayed her books out in front of her. It was her favourite place to go whenever she needed some alone time, or in this case to get some serious work done. She'd spent many spring days with Scorpius in this spot under the sun while they cooled their feet in the water.

Fifteen minutes later Rose jumped ten feet in the air when a chirpy voice sang, "Mind if I join you?" She had been so preoccupied with her studies she didn't notice anyone approaching. She looked up and met the warm chocolate eyes of none other than Scarlett Bell.

_Greaaat._

"Certainly," she answered with a strained smile. Scarlett emitted so much brightness and optimism that Rose found her quite difficult to look at.

"Excellent!" said Scarlett happily. She plonked herself down on the grass opposite Rose. "Rose Weasley. I've heard lots about you."

"Good things, I hope?" Rose asked tentatively.

"Of course! Scorpy speaks so highly of you, although he did mention you can get a little scary when aggravated."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "He did, did he? Well I think Scorpius is a pompous broom head who doesn't know what he's talking about."

_Pompous broom head? Really, Rose?_

Scarlett's big brown eyes darkened and her 100 Watt smile slowly slipped off her face.

"Don't you talk about Scorpius like that," she whispered harshly. "He's a wonderful person who wouldn't hurt a fly."

Rose was taken aback. She didn't know what to say. "Er… well, I…"

_What's that look in her eyes? Hurt? Offence? She looks as if she might cry…_

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," Rose said quickly. She didn't exactly know why she was apologizing, but supposed it was the only way to avoid opening the floodgates.

Suddenly Scarlett's eyes brightened and returned to normal. "That's quite alright. He truly is superb, such a gentleman…" she sighed dreamily. Rose held back a snort. Gentleman? Yeah, right. Maybe when trolls fly.

"I really am ever so lucky to have him," she continued, catching a leaf that was blowing in the breeze and examining it. "I've liked him for ages and finally he asked me out. I was so shocked."

"I can imagine," Rose said politely, trying to keep her blood pressure under control.

She wondered why on earth Scarlett had picked her to ramble on about Scorpius to.

"Surely you have your own friends to swoon over your boyfriend with?" Rose cut Scarlett off mid speech about his hair.

Scarlett looked horrified. "Yes, you're quite right, I do. I'm ever so sorry, Rose, it must be strange to hear about your best friend being spoken of that way."

"Just a bit." Rose felt like yanking out Scarlett's perfectly curled hair. She was seriously lacking some dignity and pride, fawning over Scorpius like that.

"Well, I'd better be off. It's getting dark. Don't stay out too long, you'll catch a cold. Of course I could brew a quick Pepper Up Potion and you'd be fine in a jiffy, but still… it's been lovely getting to know you, Rose!"

Scarlett beamed and waved merrily at the red-head before skipping back to the castle.

Rose let out a long sigh and leaned her back against the tree trunk. She was dying to have a nice long chat with Dom. Never before had she been so eager to speak to her pessimistic cousin.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Any guesses on who sent each of the agony aunt questions? :)**_  
><strong><br>**


	9. Unexpected

**Chapter 9- ****Unexpected** **  
><strong>Summary: _"Please don't tell me you're going to kiss each other now."_

"Miaow."

"Merf."

"Miaow."

"Myeah."

"_Miaow!"_

"What? What happened?" grumbled Rose as she rubbed her eyes. It took a few seconds for her to realise a fluffy black cat was standing on her stomach, staring intently at her groggy face.

"Felix!"

The cat purred in response.

"Aren't you a pretty boy?" she cooed, tickling him behind his ear.

"Looks like your gonna have a good day today, Rose," chirped Lizzie from her four poster bed where she was packing her bag for the day ahead.

Rose had had Felix since first year as a kitten, but only saw him about once a term. He much preferred to sleep in Hugo's dormitory, mostly because Rose tended to sneeze all over him which mustn't have been very pleasant for a cat. But when he did decide to show up Rose's day always went well. He was her good luck charm.

"I love you, baby," she said, rubbing her nose against his. She realised this was a bad idea when her eyes began to water and her nose was itching.

Just as she began her sneezing succession, Felix lightly jumped off the bed and gracefully padded out of the room.

"Be a good little boy for Hugo, won't you, Felix," Rose called after him. "See you in the summer!"

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you, she is <em>far<em>too happy-go-lucky for Scorpius. He needs someone more grounded and down-to-earth. Scarlett's overly… nice. She's totally not right for him."

"Ah huh."

"He needs someone more grounded and down-to-earth. Someone who isn't afraid to tell him when he's wrong, but knows how to have fun."

"Right."

"I've known him for years. I know what he needs."

Fabian fiddled with his sleeve. "Are you sure I'm the right person to be telling all this to?"

Rose looked closely at Fabian and saw how uncomfortable he was. His brown hair was flopping into his eyes and he was looking down at his hands. "Sorry. It's all I've been thinking about lately."

"It's alright. Do you want to go get some food? You said you'd show me the kitchens where the house-elves work."

Her mouth watered at the thought of warm apple pie. "Okay!" She grabbed his hand and led him across the courtyard. In her haste she bumped into someone and toppled backwards onto the cobblestone.

"Jeez, watch where you're – Rose?" Scorpius looked down at her in surprise.

"Er, hi," she said meekly.

But he wasn't looking at her anymore. He was glaring at Fabian who still had his hand locked with Rose's but was eyeing Scorpius back as if to say 'come at me bro'.

"Guys? A little help here?" Rose asked, still lying on the floor. They didn't even turn to look at her, let alone help her up.

"Fine, be like that," she grumbled, scrambling herself up. "My elbow's all cut!"

The boys were daring the other to look away first, fists clenched. It was as if they were having a silent conversation that Rose was excluded from.

They were standing so close to each other their chests were almost touching. Rose tried to pry them apart but they wouldn't budge. Damn boys and their stupid muscles.

"Please don't tell me you're going to kiss each other now."

They sprung away from each other so fast that Scorpius crashed into a pillar and Fabian tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor. Rose, being the gentle lady she was, tried helping him up but he casually brushed her off and got up himself to prove his manliness.

"Don't be silly, Rose. Um, can I speak with you for a sec?" asked Scorpius.

"Shoot." She looked at him expectantly.

"I meant in private," he said, rolling his eyes in Fabian's direction.

"Go ahead," Fabian tried to smile reassuringly at Rose, but it came across as more of a grimace. "I'll wait here."

Scorpius pulled Rose out of the courtyard into a classroom. When he closed the door behind them she tried to stop her heart from fluttering so much. "Could you help me with my Charms homework? I'm doing really badly in that class, and if I fail my N.E.W.T. the Ministry'd be less likely to take me on."

"Hmm… Say the magic word."

He looked puzzled. "You mean avada ke –"

"Nope. The one beginning with 'p'."

"Oh! _Please_, Rosie?" he said, pouting a little.

She grinned. "Okay. When do you want to meet?"

"I was thinking after dinner tonight in the library."

"Okay."

"Thanks."

"Indeed."

"Yeah… I'll see you later then."

"Sure." He gave her a quick wink before leaving her alone in the classroom.

She quickly found Fabian sitting on the edge of the fountain in the courtyard. He stood up and smiled when he saw her. "Thank Merlin you're okay."

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't trust Malfoy," he grumbled.

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt me, don't worry." Rose thought it was sweet that he cared about her. "Now, I think it's time to get me some apple pie before Muggle Studies starts. My stomach's howling."

* * *

><p>During dinner Rose spotted Poppy chatting to some Slytherin boys and was determined to hand back her letter. She should never have looked at it in the first place; it was none of her business. She straightened out her shirt and braced herself for what she knew would not be a particularly enjoyable conversation.<p>

"I'll be right back guys. I need to give something back to Parkinson that she dropped the other day," she said to Lizzie and Dom as she stood up from the bench. "If I don't make it back alive, everything I own goes to you, Lizzie. Tell my mum and dad I love them."

"Oi! Why does it all go to her?" cried Dom. "We're bloody family!"

"Because you already own everything anyone could ever want, Dom."

She considered this for a moment. "Touché."

"Good luck!" said Lizzie.

Rose approached the group tentatively and tapped Poppy gently on the shoulder. "Er, Parkinson, I think this belongs to you."

Poppy spun around, dark hair flying out in all directions, and narrowed her eyes before snatching the letter of out Rose's hands. After a quick skim of it, she grabbed her roughly by the upper arm and dragged her out of the hall and into an empty corridor where no one could eavesdrop. "How dare you, Weasley!" she snarled. "This is private property."

"I- I know. I'm really sorry," She cleared her throat. "You dropped it and I was gonna return it to you sooner, but I never saw you –"

"A likely story." Poppy was white with rage. "You read it, didn't you? You read it, and now you're going to tell the whole school about my father."

"No! Of course I –"

"You can get stuffed, Weasley. You're so insufferable. If you dare tell a single soul, I – I'll…" Poppy's lips trembled and she looked like she was desperately trying to hold back tears.

"Look, Poppy, I promise I –"

"You have no idea what my father went through." A single tear escaped her eye and she bit her lip. She took a deep quivering breath before continuing, "You think he asked to work for Voldemort? Always aspired to kill hundreds of innocent people? He was barely out of school when he was forced to join. It's not fair."

Poppy slid down against the floor and stared fixedly at a spot on the opposite wall. "It's not fair," she repeated, her voice barely a whisper.

Rose looked down at the numb girl and was torn between the decision to quietly walk away or stay and listen to Poppy's account. She decided to sit down beside her and let her get it all out. She looked like she needed someone to talk to, and Rose felt she had an obligation to the school to listen to everyone's problems since she was the newly appointed agony aunt. Even Poppy Parkinson.

"No one believes him. They think he did it out of love for the dark arts. Only cruel, heartless people would do that though! Daddy isn't like that. And now I'll never see him again because of some old crackpot death eater that's desperate to get out of jail. My father is a great man. I just wish everyone else would see that.

"I haven't even told Elie or Abby. But they don't need to know. They can carry on believing I live a perfect life with a perfect family." She finally turned to look at Rose with watery eyes. "Like you. I wish I was you. You have it all."

Rose was so surprised it took a few moments for her to form coherent thoughts.

"You shouldn't," she replied in a quiet voice, "Being me isn't all it's cracked up to be. Granted, my father isn't in Azkaban, but he is out hunting down dark wizards and there's always the worry that he'll get hurt one day. I have my own problems just like everyone else; my little brother is embarrassed of me and won't even acknowledge me at school, I get crushes on people that don't like me back and even though I adore cats I can't hold one without sneezing like hell."

Poppy still looked unconvinced.

"I know they're nothing compared to your problems, but they prove that I don't have it all. I wish I had your long dark hair, but I guess I'm stuck with being ginger. You just have to accept what you were given in life and live with it."

"That's deep, Weasley. Cheesy, but deep. I didn't know you had it in you," Poppy said. Rose swore she even saw a small _smile _grace her features.

Rose grinned in response. "I have my moments."

"There's also the Scorpius issue," Poppy added.

"The Scorpius issue?" Rose repeated hesitantly.

"Yeah. Now he's going out with that hyper freak."

"Oh."

"She's so annoying, honestly. I don't know what he's doing going out with her. He could do so much better."

"I know, right!" Rose exclaimed, happy to have finally found someone who agreed with her on this issue.

They sat there in a kind of comfortable silence for a few minutes until Poppy said, "This doesn't change anything, you know. We'll go back to normal and you'll forget everything you've seen or heard in the past half hour."

"Of course! I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

><p>"Rose! Over here!" Scorpius called as soon as she stepped into the library, earning a glare from Madam Pryce.<p>

He had come equipped with two quills, a pot of ink and spare parchment. Rose took this to meaning he meant business. She started her tutoring and clearly explained everything they had studied in class. He seemed to understand it all perfectly and an hour later they had covered the whole topic.

"Thanks Rose. You should be a teacher when you're older, you know. You're really good at explaining things," he said solemnly.

"Oh, I don't think so," she laughed as she packed her books away. "I don't think I could stand all the annoying little children if I'm honest. I can hardly stand my little brother most of the time."

"You don't realise how lucky you are to have a little sibling. I've always wanted to have a little sister to look after. But apparently it's too important to uphold the Malfoy family traditions," he said, rolling his eyes. "I think you're a great sister anyway. Like that time in second year when Hugo fell on his face after his Sorting, you made everyone stop laughing at him."

She was surprised he remembered that far back. "Anyone would do that for family, it's really not that impressive."

"No, really," he insisted, holding the door open for her to pass first. "You're amazing at practically everything. You must take after your mother, being such a talented witch."

"Um, thanks," she muttered awkwardly. It wasn't like Scorpius to shower her with compliments.

"Have you done something with your hair? It looks really pretty today," he added as they walked down the corridor together.

She raised her hands to her hair, bushy and messy as ever. "No… wait." She stopped walking and turned to face him. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"All… complimentary. It's weird. Really weird. Are you kidding around or something?"

"Of course not, I mean it all."

"Okay. Please stop."

He looked a little upset. "I thought girls like getting complimented," he mumbled. "Scarlett does."

"Oh, I'm sure precious Scarlett does," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me?" he said, raising his tone.

"You heard me," she replied defiantly.

He glared at her; she glared at him. They seemed to be having a staring contest, grey eyes on blue. She didn't realise how close they were standing. Her eyes began to water and she couldn't stop herself from blinking. She suddenly felt a pair of hands cupping either side of her face. Her breath hitched in her throat as a pair of lips pressed against her own and she froze in shock for a few seconds before she got a hold of herself. A tingle shot down her spine at the contact, all the way down her legs and into her toes. She was pushed against the wall beside a statue of Boris the Bewildered. His lips were warm and soft, and as she ran her fingers through his hair she found out that it was just as soft as she had imagined. She was surrounded by her favourite scent of sandalwood and her heart skipped a beat when he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. He pulled away all too soon and took a step away.

Her first coherent thought was '_wow'_but she didn't want to tell him that. Her cheeks flushed pink.

"W- what the hell was that?" she asked, breathless. She had meant to shout the words but she was still gasping in much-needed oxygen.

He looked a little dazed as well. "I kissed you."

Rose was appalled. "HOW DARE YOU! We are both going out with other people, you – you – two-timing little jerk!"

Scorpius snorted.

"Don't snort at me!" Rose went red in the face as she carried on yelling at him. "I can't believe you just did that! You can't just kiss a girl like that! Who do you think you are? Who do think _I_am? You should know by now that I'm not the kind of girl that would –"

"Rose."

"What?"

He smirked. "Stop talking."

"Eh –"

He kissed her again, just to shut her up and because he felt like it, before turning around and sauntering down the hallway like he owned the place and out of sight. Rose was left staring after him with her mouth wide open and her eyes wide, feeling giddy and shaky.

_Did that really just happen?  
><em>


	10. Guilty

**Chapter 10- Guilty**

At first Rose tried to forget about what had happened. It would be as if it were just a silly dream she'd had after eating too many every flavour beans late at night. But this was proving difficult.

It was all she could think about in Muggle Studies class, even with Fabian fiddling with his quill next to her while the Professor prattled on about some famous Muggle journalists. Usually she would watch with great enthusiasm how he delicately turned the soft feather between his fingers, but today her mind was elsewhere, in the middle of a corridor with an infuriatingly good looking blonde haired boy to be exact.

She peeked a look sideways at Fabian's face. He looked like he was concentrating hard on his notes, but Rose could see a few doodles on his parchment. He turned to look at her with a smile and she gave a small one in return. She felt very guilty about not staying loyal to Fabian and pledged not to do anything so stupid again.

But as much as she hated to admit it, she liked kissing Scorpius, maybe even more than she did Fabian. But that was just so _wrong_. He was her closest friend; a very annoying and arrogant friend whom she happened to have a petty little crush on in the past. But not anymore. No, she was definitely over him now. No more Scorpius daydreams for her. She turned her attention back to the blank parchment in front of her.

His soft lips… his hands caressing her face… his silky soft hair…

"Oh Merlin, I'm starting to sound like Caitlyn and Leila," she muttered to herself.

"Earth to Rose? Lesson's over," said Fabian, waving his hands madly in front of her face. "You've been day dreaming all lesson and your eyes are all glazed over."

"Oh, just got some stuff on my mind," she said vaguely, rearranging her face into a neutral expression and casually wiping a hand over her mouth to get rid of any drool. "Plus, it's getting a bit boring, hearing about all these Muggles. Life must be so dull without magic."

"People cope," he shrugged as he followed her out of the classroom, lacing his fingers through hers. "I have cousins who are Muggles and they seem to get on okay."

"Still, I feel bad for all those people who don't get the chance to live here at Hogwarts; to explore the beautiful grounds and learn all the magic spells. We forget how lucky we are to be here sometimes. The homework, though- I wouldn't mind getting less of that."

Fabian smiled at her fondly and leaned forward to kiss her when someone passing by coughed loudly and caught her eye. They locked eyes for a few seconds before his face scrunched up in disgust and he carried on his way.

"One sec, Fabian."

Leaving Fabian, she ran up the staircase to chase after him.

"Scorpius."

"Leave me alone, Weasley." He carried on walking and Rose trotted along after him.

She narrowed her eyes. "Weasley now, am I?"

Scorpius swivelled round to glare at her. "Only when you're pissing me off, like right now."

She gave a dark chuckle. "Look, I want to talk about what happened earlier."

He raised his eyebrows in what he thought looked like polite interest. "What happened earlier?"

"Don't play dumb, Scorp. I just wanted to say that I, er, think we should forget about it. Let's pretend it never happened, yeah? Neither of us were thinking properly; we'd just spent hours studying after all. So don't worry, I don't blame you."

"You don't _blame_ me? Oh, well thank you so very much!" he exclaimed incredulously. "You kissed me back if I do remember correctly. You make it sound like I did it against your will or something."

"It was against my will!"

"If you say so," he rolled his eyes.

"It really was! Why would I want to kiss _you_?"

Hurt flashed across his eyes but his sneer remained intact. She was too angry to care at the moment.

"You're right- I wasn't thinking properly. Merlin knows why I felt the impulse to kiss you. Disgusting." He ran a hand through his hair. His _soft, silky _hair. She watched as it got even more messed up than usual.

She cleared her throat. "You hypocrite! Look, Malfoy, I've had just about enough of your mood swings."

"Malfoy now, am I?" a smirk teased his lips.

"Only when you're being an annoying jerk, like right now."

"I'm not being annoying. I'm being truthful."

"No, you're doubting my kissing abilities. I happen to be an extremely good kisser and you're just jealous."

"Right."

"It's true –"

"Scorpy!" a girlish voice squealed from behind them, latching onto Scorpius' shoulder.

"Hey Scar," he smiled when he saw her, pulling her into a hug.

"Ahem, I'm still here you know," muttered Rose as she stared at the back of Scarlett's head. Her hair was so perfectly curled and shiny that it made Rose's self-esteem stoop right down. Why couldn't she be more like her?

"Rosie!" she shrieked, causing them to go temporarily deaf. She pulled away from Scorpius and threw herself at Rose, who clumsily patted her on the back.

"Hi," she replied awkwardly.

"So good to see you! You look so pretty today! Were you two talking? What were you talking about?"

"Er… we were talking about… fish," invented Rose lamely.

"There's a rumour going round that there'll be fish for dinner tonight," added Scorpius.

Scarlett scrunched up her freckled nose. "I hate fish. It smells weird."

Rose couldn't hold back a laugh. "Yeah. It smells kinda like Al's feet." Scorpius joined in the laughter. Scarlett, however, just looked plain confused.

"Who's Al?"

"Albus Potter, my cousin."

"_Oh_, Harry Potter's kid. I don't think I've ever spoken to him; you'll have to introduce us sometime! Oh my gosh, I'm gonna meet someone famous! This is SO exciting!"

"He's coming down the corridor right now."

"W- where? Oh no! How do I look? I look disgusting, don't I?" She bit her lip.

"You look fine, Scarlett," said Scorpius soothingly.

"Hey Al! Over here!"

He turned at the sound of his cousin's voice and started walking towards her, until he saw who she was accompanied by. His emerald eyes widened in shock and he took slow steps backwards.

Rose wasn't having any of this. She dragged him over and dropped him by Scarlett's feet like the lovely cousin she was.

"_You_? You are the famous Albus Potter?"

"Yeah…" Al replied feebly.

Scarlett's eyes flashed in anger and she put her hands on her hips, towering over him.

"You're the one that follows me everywhere. Never approaching me, but always following from afar. Don't think I haven't noticed!" She gave him a calculating look. "WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?" she bellowed finally.

"I – I didn't realise it was bothering you –"

"_No one likes a creeper_!"

"I'm sorry, Scarlett!" he squeaked. "It won't happen again!"

She suddenly smiled widely and leant down to help him up. He took her outstretched hand in shock. "Don't worry about it. It's actually kinda cute – I've never had a stalker before!"

"Al, you can let go of her hand now," said Scorpius, rolling his eyes.

"Meep," he replied. He took a step back but still gazed at her adoringly.

"We were just talking about how your feet smell of fish, Al," said Rose, grinning.

He glared at Rose but still couldn't make any words come out of his mouth.

"Well it's been fun catching up with you guys, but I really gotta finish my Potions essay. See you!" Scarlett grinned and skipped away down the corridor.

"Thank Merlin she's gone! How do you put up with her?" Rose asked. "She's the most annoying person I've met in my entire life. And I've met James Potter. Honestly, she's so stuck up her own arse, it's pitiful."

"What's your problem?" said Scorpius, shaking his head in exasperation. "Scarlett's lovely. One of the nicest girls I've ever met."

She snorted. "She makes me want to jump off the Astronomy Tower."

"Merlin, there's no need to be such a cow, Rose."

"She's the cow, not me –"

"_Rose_, you can stop now," added Al, looking uneasily over her shoulder.

She turned around and yelped in surprise; her heart sank. Scarlett was standing a few metres from her looking so betrayed and grieved that Rose couldn't meet her eyes. Tears were flooding down her face like the Niagara Falls.

She slid down against the wall onto the floor and hugged her knees against her chest, burying her face in her legs.

"Scarlett, are you okay?" asked Al worriedly. She replied with a particularly loud sob.

"Happy now?" hissed Scorpius. Rose looked down at her feet. He crouched down beside Scarlett and put his arm around her comfortingly. "Don't worry, Scar, Rose didn't mean anything by it. You're a wonderful person."

"I'm not," she finally spoke. "She's right. I'm a horrible, horrible person. No wonder everybody hates me. I never realised how annoying I was." She sobbed harder as she spoke.

If looks could kill, Rose would have been in St Mungo's by now. Al was also extremely annoyed that she was upsetting his 'future wife'.

"Maybe…maybe you should leave now, Rose," Scorpius said quietly, pausing from fussing over Scarlett like a mother for a second to look at Rose disappointedly. There was a slight tone of anger to his voice. She felt like a naughty little girl caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

"Sorry," she mumbled before turning around and hurriedly walking away. It felt like hours had passed till she got to the common room. Her feet were heavy and sluggish and she felt like the worst person in the world.

* * *

><p>Potions was dragging on.<p>

She checked her wristwatch for the time. After about an eternity had passed, she checked again. Only a minute had passed.

"Grrghhurrrg," she mumbled as she leant her face into her hand.

She decided to pass the time by staring at everyone around her. On her right was Anjali, who was picking Flobberworm Mucus out of her nails. On the other side of Anjali was Elie Martin, braiding her hair, and a Hufflepuff named Collin. On the table to her left sat Thomas Harper and Winifred Havisham- the skinniest girl in the school, also known as Skinny Winnie. They were both staring idly at the wall behind Professor Totternhoe. In front of them were Scorpius and some Ravenclaw girl. She was scooting her stool closer to his but he didn't notice, or at least pretended not to.

Why did she always have to mess everything up? She still felt horrible for the whole Scarlett fiasco. What made it worse was that she'd really meant what she said. She was worse than the seventh year Slytherin girls.

Scorpius turned around and caught her eye. Rose quickly looked down at her desk, blushing.

"Malfoy's looking at you," whispered Anjali into her ear.

"I know," she hissed back.

She peeked up again through her hair and was relieved to see he was facing the front once again.

Maybe she ought to do a grand apology, like write a heartfelt song full of regret and confusing metaphors and play it to Scarlett on the piano or violin. But it was a free country; she was allowed to speak her mind. Perhaps she had been a bit too blunt. Either way, she hated having Scorpius mad at her, and knowing she had made a younger student cry was not such a great feeling either.

"Weasley!"

Rose immediately sat up straight and looked around to see where the sneering voice had come from.

"While you were busy ogling Mr Malfoy, the rest of the class have started their essays. Do start it soon, won't you? We don't have forever," Professor Totternhoe said condescendingly. A few people around the class snickered. Too disconcerted to argue, Rose quickly dove into her bag and whipped out a plain piece of parchment. Her ears felt hot and she didn't want to look up in case she met his eyes again.

At last the bell went, and everyone filed out of the dungeon. She scurried after them, desperate to get some food in her system. She'd had a hard day, and after all food was always the best medicine. But Scorpius managed to catch up with her.

"Rose, we need to talk," he said as he matched her stride.

Uh oh. Those words were never fun to hear. They usually meant she was in deep Hippogriff dung.

She could almost see the cogs turning in his brain as he carefully planned out his words. "Scarlett's very… sensitive. You really upset her. You need to be more careful around her, okay?"

She was so relieved he wasn't too angry. "Yeah. I was stupid. It was uncalled for. And I really am sorry," she said sincerely. She pouted slightly and widened her eyes a bit, as taught by Dom. Worked like a charm every time.

He smiled widely and she beamed in response, knowing all was forgiven, for now.

She suddenly pounced on him and gave him the biggest, tightest, breath-draining hug ever. "Love you, Scorp."

He pulled back and looked at her as if she'd just… well, told him she loved him. "Eh?"

Oops.

"I, er…"

"You what?"

"Love… you… like… a brother! Love you like a dude! Yeah, erm…"

"You think of me as a brother?" He looked kind of confused and _upset_, which made Rose confused, but not so much upset.

"Yeah… no… I don't know! Argh!"

He frowned. "I guess I love you too, then. Like a sister."

"How sweet," she mumbled, sulkily. "I can be the sister you've always wanted."

"Yeah." He didn't sound very enthusiastic.

They'd reached the Great Hall and were about to split up to their respective tables.

"See you," he called.

"Bye," she replied half-heartedly.

She trudged over to where Dom was sitting, picking at some pasta.

"Hey, Rosie. I wondered where you'd got to."

She grunted in response and went straight for the apple pie.

"Bad day?" asked Dom sympathetically.

Rose nodded once.

"Ah, the emotional rollercoaster that is life. Kinda sucks."

"Where's Lizzie got to?"

"Over there." Dom motioned with her head over to the Ravenclaw Table. Lizzie was standing by it talking to Fabian, giggling at something he had said.

"What's she doing over there?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Dom gave Rose a look. "This is _Lizzie_ we're talking about, dear. Put your jealousy aside."

"I s'pose you're right." She looked over again. Fabian was now laughing at something Lizzie said.

"Psst."

"Huh?" Rose turned to Dom, who shrugged.

"Rose. Psssst."

"Where is that coming from?"

"Down here!"

Hugo was crouching under the table by her feet, big brown eyes darting around nervously.

"I need your help with something."

"Oh. What do you need, little bro?"

"This is why I don't associate myself with you in public," he said, eyes narrowing. "I'm not little."

"Aw, maybe not, but you'll always be little Hugh to me," she bent down to pinch his cheeks.

"Geroff," he muttered. "Mum said you're not allowed to annoy me in public, remember?"

"I do not recall her saying that."

"Listen, I need –" he gulped, "girl help."

Dom snorted. "Run out of lippie, have you? Don't worry; I've got plenty you can borrow up in the dormitory. I'll even give you a makeover if you want."

"Who's the girl?" asked Rose, ignoring her cousin.

"She's an older girl," he whispered back.

"What year?"

"Sixth."

"Ooh, a whole year older. That's pushing your luck."

"I know."

"What house?"

"Slytherin."

Rose almost choked on her pumpkin juice. "Who?"

"Erm… err…" Hugo's cheeks reddened. He looked like he really didn't want to admit it. "She's on the quidditch team."

"Oh, please don't tell me it's –"

"Scarlett Bell," he said nervously.

Rose blinked rapidly before she banged her head on the wooden table.

"Ah, hell."


	11. Temptation

**Chapter 11- Temptation  
><strong>**  
><strong>_**  
><strong>It was midnight. The full moon shone like a crystal ball high in the dark sky, giving the Black Lake a silvery glow. The cool breeze rustled her crimson hair as she took in her surroundings. She was sitting on a giant, yellow rubber duck, one leg on either side as if she were riding a horse._

_A little way off to her left she sensed movement. She almost fell into the icy water in shock when she noticed a blonde boy, perched on a duck identical to her own, staring at her intently._

_"Rose…" he whispered._

_"Scorpius!" she gasped. "What are you doing here? What am __I doing here?"_

_"Shh, don't fret, my love," he murmured, reaching out his hand towards her. "Come closer…"_

_She looked at the mass of black water surrounding her. Swimming was __not an option. "How?" As soon as the question escaped her lips, a steering wheel appeared attached to the rubber duck's neck, very similar to the ones that came with WizKart. She steered it until they were side by side._

_"Lovely," he said happily. He whipped a flower out of thin air and tucked it behind her ear. "A rose, for my glorious Rose."_

_"Er, thanks," she mumbled. "Corny, but kinda cute."_

_"My dearest Rosalind, I am –"_

_"Rosalind? My name's Rose. Just Rose," she interrupted._

_"I am thrilled to see you on this glorious night, Rosalind. You light up the night sky." He gazed into her eyes. "You are not merely pretty. You are not beautiful. You are… as radiant as the Sun."_

_He leaned towards her, breaking eye contact to glance at her lips. She felt herself tilt towards him automatically, their lips inches apart – when suddenly she was thrown backwards and landed with a painful_

_slap into the glacial water. She resurfaced, gasping for breath and trying desperately not to drown (she had never been a strong swimmer), when she spotted what had broken them apart: the Giant Squid, glaring at her murderously. It had curly dark brown hair and freckles scattered on its face._

_"Stay away from my man!" it bellowed in a familiar voice. "Come on Scorpy, let's get away from her."_

_With a sweep of a tentacle, Scorpius was sitting on the Squid's back. He looked at Rose helplessly as he rode away into the distance._

_"Scorpius!" she cried, swallowing a mouthful of water. "Come back!"_

_"Rose! Rose! _Rose! Rose… wake up, you gingernut!"

Rose rubbed her eyes as she sat up in her bed. "Lizzie?"

"Ahuh. That's me."

"Did you just call me a gingernut?" she asked groggily with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Maybe. What were you dreaming of?"

"Er… the Giant Squid," she replied, yawning.

"The Giant Squid," Lizzie repeated sceptically.

"Ah-huh. The Squid, eating a pie."

"Really? That's interesting, 'cause you kept saying '_Scorpius, Scorpius, wherefore art thou Scorpius_?' Are you sure you weren't dreaming about something else?" Lizzie laughed.

"N-no! I didn't dream of him at all! I dreamt of a nice, warm, steaming apple pie. Speaking of apple pie, I could really do with some breakfast right now. Guess I better go get ready… bye!" she sprinted to the bathroom and hastily locked the door behind her.

She tried not to freak out about her dream. _Random people appear in my dreams all the time,_ she reassured herself as she brushed her teeth. _Professor Totty featured in one the other day, and I definitely do not have any weird feelings for her._

Rose rinsed her mouth out a few more times than necessary to shake off the strange thoughts of her professor.

_Creepy visuals._

* * *

><p>"I'm fine, honestly, Fabian," said Rose, freeing herself from her boyfriend's hold as they left the Muggle Studies classroom full of disgusted-looking students. "Just a little dizzy, but I'll be alright in a minute."<p>

"You puked on my homework, in Professor Wright's top hat and on Bertie McGee's lap. That sounds worse than just 'a little dizzy' to me, Rose," he said, trying to wrap his arms around her shoulders again as they walked.

"It's not my fault I couldn't run out the classroom in time! Plus, the hat was just lying there, looking all clean and polished. It was practically begging to be covered in sick." She snorted, but regretted it when bile filled her throat.

He looked at her worriedly. "Okay, we really gotta get you to Pomfrey ASAP." He put a hand to her forehead to feel her temperature. "You look green."

She yanked his hand away. "Look, I told you I'm okay! I don't need to see the nurse, I'm fine. Just let me rest a second and I'm sure the moment will pass." She closed her eyes and breathed in and out deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"If you'd just go see her –"

"I don't WANT to go to her, why can't you understand that?" she snapped irritably.

He jerked away involuntarily. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's just – you don't look well."

"Thanks so much, you're such a charmer," she sneered. She stopped walking and slumped back against the wall to rest her head. "Look, maybe you should go back to class, and I'll just rest here for a bit."

"But he told me to take you to Pomfrey –"

"Please just go," she said weakly. She was feeling too low to care about sparing his feelings.

"But Rose, you're ill and–"

"I need to rest."

"You need to go to the hospital wing."

She turned away from him. The conversation was over.

"Get better soon," he said quietly after a while. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowly walked back down the corridor, turning back to look at her once with a troubled expression on his face.

Once he'd left she let out a long sigh. She was finally given some alone time, something that seemed to be a special privilege nowadays. He was always by her side, insisting on walking her everywhere, never giving her a moment of peace. It was a nice to be alone for a change.

A short while later, the bell rang to announce the end of the period. Rose was still leaning heavily against the wall, feeling a little less queasy than before but still dizzy.

What could have made her so sick? Maybe it was the suspiciously green-looking piece of toast Bertie had passed her at breakfast. She only ate it to avoid answering Lizzie's on-going questions about her dream. Plus, it didn't even taste so bad, even the green bits.

"Hey," a deep voice called from nearby.

_Ugh, Fabian's back already_, she thought.

She looked up and was surprised to see Scorpius instead.

"Of all the hundreds of corridors in this god-forsaken castle, he just _has _to come into mine…" she grumbled to herself.

"What was that?" he asked cheerily as he approached her.

"Nothing. Just wondering why Merlin hates me so much."

"Bad day?" he asked pityingly.

"You have no idea."

He shoved his hands in his robe pockets.

"So, what're you doing leaning against a dirty old wall, looking like you've just seen Voldemort return from the dead and perform a tap dance, whilst creepily twitching your eye?" he asked casually.

She didn't want to tell him she'd been sick. Hasty trips to the hospital wing were not on her agenda. "I'm fed up," she declared dramatically. "I'm fed up of class after class, endless homework and never getting any time to relax. It's all becoming too much, y'know?"

He nodded. "I know how you feel."

Rose looked up into his eyes for a second before quickly looking down at her shoes. A loose strand of her hair came loose and covered her eyes. Scorpius reached out a hand to gently tuck it behind her ear and she looked up at him again.

"Rose…" he began quietly, "do you really think of me as a brother?"

"Wha – I – uh –"

"I mean, I know I said I always wanted a sister, but I meant a really little one. Like, you know, a short one. You're, uh, quite tall."

She nodded lamely. He was moving his face closer to hers and her mind was getting all muddled- she didn't even notice all the people passing by. It felt like they were the only two people in the corridor.

She felt his hot breath on her mouth. "I don't really think of you as a sister," he breathed. She opened her mouth to reply.

He quickly pulled away and scrunched up his face. "Eugh, Merlin, you- you smell like puke."

She soon recovered from her state of shock and the tips of her ears went red. "Yeah, well, I've been sick," she tried to sound unaffected but her voice wobbled at the end. There couldn't be a worse feeling in the world than being sick. Perhaps the cruciatus curse, but still.

"Oh, well thanks for the warning," he said sarcastically, wiping at his mouth.

She stuck her tongue out.

He conjured her up a glass of water and passed it to her, which she took gratefully.

"Do you need to go to hospital wing?"

"NO!" she spluttered, getting water on her shirt. "I mean, no, I'm alright."

He narrowed his eyes. "What've you got against the hospital wing?"

"It's full of sick people. Illness. General unpleasantness. Ugh, it's not my scene," she said, shuddering.

_Plus_, she thought, _it brings back bad memories. I haven't been in there since your Quidditch accident._

"The hospital wing doesn't bother me. You know, I was actually thinking for the last few days about becoming a Healer," he said slowly, gauging her reaction. "I was looking through a leaflet about the Ministry and it sounds pretty boring, being stuck in an office all day. I think I'd rather be doing something to help people, like maybe get a job at St Mungo's."

She nodded thoughtfully. "You'd make a good healer."

He laughed. "Thanks. You wouldn't."

She shoved his arm. "That's no way to treat a patient."

"You're my patient?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup, I'm your first one ever. Tell me, Healer Malfoy, how will you cure me?" she asked innocently. She was suddenly feeling a whole lot better.

"Let me think." He put an arm either side of her face against the wall, effectively trapping her. Her pulse instantly quickened. "A good diet is always important in order to be healthy. I say you meet me in the kitchens, ten o'clock tonight, and I can show you exactly how to do it right."

She felt herself blush and let her hair fall like a curtain around her face. Scorpius wasn't having that; he tenderly brushed it back from her face and forced her to look at him.

"Sound good to you?" he murmured.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, sounds great." She had no idea what she was agreeing to. She was too fixed on his eyes, trying to decide whether they were grey or a very light shade of blue, which were darkening with every second that passed.

He slowly stroked the side of her face with his finger, touching the faint outline of a dimple on her left cheek.

The gurgling liquids in her stomach exploded into thousands of little butterflies, fluttering around wildly. The skin he touched tingled pleasantly.

"I never knew you had a dimple," he muttered curiously.

His eyes suddenly rested on her lips. Rose waiting with bated breath, waiting for him to lean in even closer.

Lysander suddenly came down the corridor and wolf-whistled, giving Rose a cheeky wink as he passed them.

"Scorp," she whispered quickly, "Stop."

His eyes were glued to her mouth.

"Please." She had to drag her own eyes away from his mouth. "Remember Scarlett?"

_Remember Fabian, who you treated terribly earlier? _she added to herself.

"She doesn't need to know," he whispered back with a smirk.

"Scorp!" Rose said sharply.

He sighed resignedly and slowly took a step back, freeing her. "Alright."

Rose took a few more steps away from him to avoid temptation and folded her arms across her chest. He ran a hand through his hair.

"So, uh –"

"This has got to stop. It's not fair on Scarlett, on Fabian, nor me or you. It's got to stop," she said firmly.

"But, Rose, we can't help it. I just can't resist you."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the blush that crept up her neck. "Well we need to try harder to resist. How would Scarlett react if she found out about this?" she gestured between them. "I know for a fact that Fabian wouldn't be too happy."

Scorpius looked a little guilty. "You're right."

"Of course," she replied smugly.

Scorpius looked deep in thought for a few moments.

"I'll have to break up with her."

"I can't believe you actually admitted I'm right – _what?_" she cried.

"I've been thinking about doing it for a while," he admitted. "I feel more of a brotherly protection for her, you know? She's so naïve and vulnerable. I feel a need to protect her but not so much in a, er, romantic way. I just don't want her hurt."

For the second time that day Rose felt like she had fallen into the icy waters of the Black Lake.

"You're going… to break up… with Scarlett?" she asked, confused.

He looked at her inquisitively. "Yes, that's what I just said."

"Okay. But why?" she suddenly asked. "You seemed to really like her."

"Of course I like her; she's a really good person. I just don't like her in _that_way, if you get me."

Rose continued to look dumbstruck- obviously a very attractive look.

"I know you don't particularly like her. You've made that obvious. But seriously, she's a nice girl. She just has a lot of emotions."

She stifled a giggle. "You can say that again."

Suddenly, a flying piece of parchment flew into the back of Scorpius's head and fell onto the floor. Grumbling, he picked it up and noticed the word 'Rose' was scrawled on the front.

"For you," he shrugged.

Rose immediately recognised her brother's untidy handwriting. It was hardly legible. She unfolded it and read the note:

_Remember- Operation Scarlett will go ahead tonight. Be there or be square.  
><em>

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:**_ If you have a spare minute, leave me a review telling me what you thought. I love hearing your views :-)  
>p.s. I know, too many people like Scarlett considering she's all weird and bipolar. (Yes, she is bipolar, that's why her emotions are so extreme). But without getting to know her properly she just seems like a sweet, pretty girl who's on the Quidditch team. Kay? :D<br>p.p.s. sorry for the long wait! (of like, a week ;) ) next update will be quicker.


	12. Betrayed

**Chapter 12- Betrayed**  
><em><strong>AN:**__ I found another reason why so many people like Scarlett: sometimes when boys realise that a guy likes a certain girl, more start to_ _like her for the sole reason of her not being available to them. They want what they can't have._

_Anyways, hope you like the chapter. :D You probably won't be too happy with a certain male by the end…_

"Oh, sweet Circe. We look ridiculous."

"Nah, we look hot!"

Rose looked witheringly in the mirror at herself and her friends. They were all in black, complete with ridiculous high heels and black smudges of lipstick on their cheeks.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," said Rose nervously, rubbing at her face to see if the gunk on it would come off. It didn't. Apparently, she would be spending hours trying to get it off this evening.

"Me neither," said Lizzie. She attempted to tug her black dress a little lower to no avail. "Why do we have to wear this?"

"There's no point in going on a secret spy mission without dressing up a little," Dom replied, rolling her eyes. "You look amazing, Lizzie; you should dress like this more often."

"Like I just walked out of a cathouse? Um, no way. Why was I even dragged into this?"

"Because we knew you'd have a moan at us later for not letting you join in," said Dom. Her perfect eyebrows scrunched together. "What is that noise?"

There was a squeaking noise coming from their dormitory. Rose bravely went in to investigate.

Dom clambered onto the counter by the sink, squealing. "Rats! There are rats in there!" She raised a shaky hand to point towards their bathroom door leading into the dormitory. "We're all gonna catch the bubonic plague and die! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"

"Relax, Dom, I doubt there are rats in our dorm–"

"I never even got to fall in love!" she cried. "Not properly, anyway. What a waste my life has been!"

"Get in here, Lizzie!" cried Rose frantically.

"I'll just stay up here," said Dom impassively, arranging herself more comfortably onto the counter. "I'm sure you can handle it just fine without me."

Lizzie hobbled as quickly as she could into the dormitory to see the squealing noise was coming from Georgie the Pygmy Puff while Felix knocked her from side to side with his paws. Rose stood looking at them helplessly.

"He's gonna kill Georgie!"

Lizzie bent down to pick up Felix, but he quickly ran away into the common room.

Rose fussed over Georgie and apologised profusely for leaving her unguarded with a cat around.

"Is it safe to come out? Have you got rid of the rats?" asked Dom, peering around the bathroom door.

"Yes. Yes, we have."

"Okay, now let's go. We've been long enough as it is." Dom strolled confidently down the stairs into the common room; Rose and Lizzie gripped onto each other for support as they followed, wobbling in their shoes.

"Great, you're ready. So, what's the plan?" said Hugo, patting the seats next to him. Felix was curled up happily on his lap. He was simply wearing jeans and a black t-shirt which made Rose feel very silly, being all dressed up.

"Mission one is to hunt Scarlett down and, uh, we'll decide on mission two one we've accomplished mission one!" Dom grinned. She passed out the wizard equivalent of walkie-talkies sold at her Uncle's joke shop. "If separated, we communicate with these. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they chorused. 

"Wait a second." Hugo narrowed his eyes as he took in his sister's apparel. "What the Flying Fudge are you wearing?"

"Clothes," Rose replied sharply with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly, Hugo, there really is no need to get all protective just because I whip out some heels –"

"You look ridiculous."

"Hey!" she cried indignantly. "I- I do not! You look stupider!"

He snorted. "Oh, I don't think so, sis –"

"Well I think so –"

"Do you want us to help you or not?" cried Dom, hands on hips.

"Yes," he squeaked, looking at the floor.

"Then let's go." Dom once again led the way out of the common room as the others grudgingly followed. 

Outside the entrance to the common room stood Lily chatting to Lysander Scamander, who smiled at Rose when he saw her, looking amused at her strange outfit. She noticed Lily was twirling her red hair around her finger as she spoke to him, and she was leaning against the wall so that her body was thrown forward. Interesting.

"Hey, Lils, want to join us on a mission?" asked Hugo, eyeing Lysander suspiciously.

"Huh? Oh, er, no thanks. I'm kind of busy at the moment," she said, giving him a meaningful look.

"But we could use all the extra re-enforcements we can get."

"Um, maybe another time."

"Are you sure?"

"You guys have fun," she said curtly. She turned back to Lysander. "So, what were you saying about Saturday…?"

"Come on, let's leave her to it," Dom said quietly. The group walked on in silence for a while.

"I don't understand her. At home, she tells me everything and acts like we're best friends, just like we were when we were little. But now… it's like she can't be bothered with me," Hugo said miserably.

"Same here," said Rose. "I think she's like that with all of us. Don't take it personally, Hugh."

"She doesn't even talk to me when we're at the Burrow_,_" scoffed Dom. "I get the feeling she doesn't like her family very much."

"She never _used_ to neglect us and be obsessed with guys. I want the old Lily back," Hugo sulked.

"She'll come around one day, I'm sure," said Lizzie, patting his shoulder consolingly.

Their first stop was the Slytherin Dungeon. Rose had forgotten how chilly it could get down there, especially on a rainy day. Wishing she had more clothing on over her little dress, she walked up to the wall guarding the entrance to the common room, opened her mouth to speak to it, and then hesitated.

"What's wrong?" asked Lizzie.

"I can't remember the password." She bit her lip. "I haven't been down here in ages. They probably changed it by now anyway."

"Evil will prevail?" tried Hugo. Predictably, the wall didn't budge. Rose slapped her brother's arm.

"I think it was something to do with snakes…"

"Maybe you have to speak in Parseltongue," said Hugo. Rose gave him an unimpressed look. "Okay, maybe not then."

"Alright, I'm getting bloody bored here. How about we charge the wall down?" Dom proposed. "Our added weights might knock it down."

"I am surrounded by complete idiots. Idiots, I tell you!" Rose cried, shaking her head sadly.

"Hey! I'm here too, you know," said Lizzie.

Rose smiled. "Ah, of course. I have my normal, sane Lizzie to keep me intact."

Hugo hissed at the wall enthusiastically, looking for movement. "I don't think this is gonna work."

"Scarlett might not even be in there anyway," reasoned Lizzie. "We could try the Great Hall instead."

Suddenly the wall slid to the side and out walked Albus, crashing into the group of spies in the process.

"Al! What are you doing here?"

"I'm walking out of the Slytherin common room, since, y'know, I'm a Slytherin and all," he replied sardonically. "Why are you all dressed like that?" 

"We're looking for Scarlett. Have you seen her?" asked Hugo eagerly.

"Er, no, I was, er…" he trailed off and scratched the back of his neck.

"You were what?"

"Well, actually, I was about to go, er, Scarlett hunting myself," Al replied, his cheeks going red. "Got my binoculars ready and everything." He held them up feebly.

"You are such a creep." Rose found herself shaking her head once again.

"Says the one dressed like a spy on a hunt for their best friend's girlfriend?" Al raised an eyebrow.

Rose cocked her head to the side appreciatively. "Touché."

"Why are you looking for her, anyway?" he asked curiously.

"No reason," Hugo piped up quickly. Al looked suspicious.

"What's going on?"

"Look, if you help us without all the questions, I'll give you 20 galleons," pleaded Hugo.

"Deal." They shook on it, spitting on their hands first. Dom made a gagging noise.

"Hey! That's double what you gave us!" said Rose.

"Yeah, how come we get less than creeper-boy?" demanded Dom.

"Because Al's my bro." Al and Hugo did some kind of secret handshake.

"Whatever," muttered Rose. "So, where's she most likely to be around now?"

"Around this time of day she's usually spending time with Scorp somewhere in the castle."

"…yeah, 'cause that just narrows down the possibilities SO much," said Dom, rolling her eyes.

"She won't be with Scorpius today though," said Lizzie.

Al turned to her, confused. "Why not?"

"They broke up," Rose shrugged.

This statement was met by several raised eyebrows and an unsurprised Dom, who said, "About time. The girl's a freak."

"She is not!" Al cried.

"She's not a freak," said Rose. "She's just unique."

"Says you, who made her cry. Look, we're wasting time. Let's split up and go on a hunt for her, using these to communicate." Dom held up her walkie-talkie. "Capiche?"

"Alright," said Rose, pretending to pull some straws out of a pocket. "Whoever gets the short straw has to go with Al."

"Oi! I resent that!" he said indignantly.

Rose laughed. "Just kidding. You're stuck with me, Potter." She ruffled his messy black hair as he pouted.

"Rose, can I speak with you for a sec?" Without waiting for an answer, Lizzie pulled her a little way off from the others. "Don't you think what you're doing is a bit strange?"

Rose pondered this for a moment. "No, not really."

Lizzie sighed. "Let me rephrase. Don't you think it's a little weird to be tracking down one of your closest friend's girlfriend to set her up with your little brother?" 

"Well, when you put it like that…"

"You'll end up hurting Scorpius," Lizzie whispered.

Rose shook her head. "Nope, he said he was gonna break up with Scarlett anyways. He promised."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Says he thinks of her as a sister."

"Aw. And how do you feel about that?"

"Uh… I'm unaffected. Impassive. Neutral. Poker-faced. Yup, that's me! Totally disinterested."

"Sure you are," Lizzie winked. "Well, that's awesome- now there's one less obstacle stopping the two of you!"

"Stopping what?"

"You know what," Lizzie giggled. "Don't pretend."

"I honestly don't know what you are talking about, Elizabeth. Care to explain?"

Lizzie laughed again and shook her head. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, as long as Scorpius and Scarlett really aren't together any more, I guess the mission can go ahead without any guilt, right?"

"Yeah. She's single now, so all we've gotta do is somehow make her notice Hugo and fall in love with him. Easier said than done…"

Rose looked over at her brother who was making creepy facial expressions at Al as a source of entertainment, including flared nostrils, squinting eyes and beaver teeth.

Lizzie followed her line of vision. "You can say that again."

She walked back over to Dom, Hugo and Al. Rose followed her best friend, wondering what on earth she meant by an obstacle…

"Thank you for finally finishing your little chit-chat over there," said Hugo, staring at them pointedly. Rose and Lizzie stuck their tongues out at him. "So since we're splitting up, who's going with who?"

"Lizzie, how about you go with Al?" proposed Rose, giving her a quick wink.

Lizzie shrugged. "I thought you said you were going with him."

_A week ago, Lizzie would've jumped at the chance to be alone with Al_, thought Rose. _She must have finally realised what a broomhead he really is._

"Alright, I go with Al. We'll check the grounds outside the castle. Dom, you go with Lizzie and check the library. Hugh…"

"Alright, I'll go with me, myself and I," he sighed. "If only Lily wasn't being all weird…"

He sloped off away from the Dungeons. They followed him into the entrance hall.

"Aw, Hugh, you can come with us," Rose offered.

"Nah. Just leave me, I'll be fine all by myself. I'm used to it by now."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Stop pitying yourself. It's not a good look for you."

"Your face isn't a good look," he retorted.

"Wow, you're so mature."

"You know what else is mature?" said Dom. "The cheese on the toast Nana makes."

Al gasped dramatically. "I had some of that with prawns, tomato sauce, mayo and loads and loads of salt!"

"Salt is no good, my child! You may die of salt overload!" cried Dom. Al pretended to choke while Dom hastily thumped him on the back.

"Guys. We're going a bit off topic here," said Rose monotonously.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open. A bunch of Hufflepuff fourth years including her younger cousin strolled out. "Oi, Lou! Get over here!" He smiled and made his way over to her.

"Sup, Rosie?"

"We're on a mission. A super-top-secret spy mission. You are a Weasley, therefore you are one of the privileged few allowed to join. Hugo is your partner and you two will check the ground floor corridors and empty classrooms. Your assignment starts… _now_."

Rose saluted to a very bewildered looking Louis before taking Al by the arm and marching out of the front doors.

The sun was setting and there was a light breeze, making the hairs on Rose's arms stand up.

"Would you be a gentlemen and lend me your jumper? It's freezing," she said sweetly.

"Pfft, no way. Then _I'd_ be cold. It's your own fault for dressing up in that ridiculous bit of material."

"Such a sweet, loving cousin you are," she grumbled. "It's actually really hard to believe you are the offspring of the Saviour of the Wizarding World and the loving, maternal figure that is Aunt Ginny."

"And Hermione Weasley is the brightest witch of her age, yet her own daughter can't figure out how to layer up when it's cold. Ironic, huh?"

Rose shoved him playfully.

"So, where is Scarlett's favourite hangout place, Mr Stalky McStalker Pants?"

"Well, she likes to sit by the patch of yellow flowers by the lake. We could try there first."

"Alright."

Her teeth started to chatter as they walked. "Wait a second. I'm a witch!"

"No way!"

"I could just cast a heating charm on myself!"

"Amazing!"

"…but I don't have my wand on me."

"Good thing I do, then, isn't it?"

He muttered a spell to warm her up. Her tense muscles instantly relaxed.

He pulled out his binoculars and looked towards the lake.

"What do you see?" Rose asked.

"Two figures sitting by the yellow flowers," he replied. "One brunette, one blonde."

"Ooh, we've found her!" she said excitedly. She whipped out her walkie-talkie and beckoned the others to come over.

In the mean-time Al and Rose decided to get a closer look. They crept behind the foliage a few metres away from them and made a hole in the bush that they could see through and still hear what was being said. Scarlett was lying flat on her stomach picking at some grass.

_Hold on a second._ Rose was surprised to see Scorpius was there with her. Weren't they supposed to have broken up?

"Scorpius," Al muttered. Rose glanced at him and could see how annoyed he was.

"So, I was totally surprised when she told me she hated my guts," Scarlett said angrily. "First Rose said it to me, now Regina! What's going on? I mean, all these years I'd thought we were BFFs! Regina and I, we met on the train in first year and have been best friends ever since. And then she goes and says this! I felt like crying, Scorpy. In fact, I did. She really hurt me." Tears welled up in Scarlett's eyes.

"Don't cry, Scar," said Scorpius, wiping away a stray tear on her cheek. "I'm sure she didn't mean it."

"I hope not," she sniffed.

"Scarlett, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," he began, itching the back of his head nervously.

Was he going to break up with her? Had they not broken up already? How was he going to go about it? Rose's mind exploded with curiosity. She couldn't look away. In the corner of her eye she saw the others join them behind the bush.

"Go ahead," Scarlett smiled widely at him.

He took a deep breath. "I… I…" He bit his lip.

"Yes?" she pressed.

"I… I think…" his voice cracked.

Scarlett smiled encouragingly. "Nice deep breaths, Scorpy. It'll help the words come out."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," whispered Rose. "If only he had an ounce of Gryffindor bravery, he could have got it over with by now."

Scorpius took another deep breath. "I think that I… that we…"

"I love you."

His eyes widened to the size of the saucepans in Nana Weasley's kitchen, as did Rose's.

"What?"

"You heard me," she answered determinedly. "I. Love. You."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Huh?"

Scorpius was as still as a statue.

Scarlett sat up and clambered over to sit on his lap. "I love you so much, Scorpy. You mean the world to me," she whispered. She began attacking his face with her lips. He didn't pull back.

Rose's breath came in short, shallow bursts. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was like a bad soap opera; she couldn't watch any more. She had to get away.

She ran as fast as her long legs would carry her, stumbling along the way, back to the castle, up all those steps, through the portrait hole, up yet another staircase until finally she flopped down onto her four-poster bed, drawing the curtains closed around her. 

One thought was whirring through her mind; she was unable to think of anything else. 

He had betrayed her. 


	13. Trust

**Chapter 13- Trust **

There was a clutter of photographs stuck with spello-tape onto the canopy of her bed. One was of her mother smiling serenely at the camera in the garden whilst her father walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. Another was of her brother sticking his tongue out, taken a few years earlier, before he became camera shy. The photo below that was of herself, standing between Albus and Scorpius with her arms thrown carelessly around their shoulders, taken amidst the pandemonium on Platform 9 ¾ before the train left.

With a jolt, she remembered Scorpius.

What a jerk.

She ripped his part of the photo and gladly tossed it on the floor.

There was a part of her that honestly thought he liked her. All those moments they shared when his eyes went dark as they were glued to her lips. And all that time he was just leading her on when really, he preferred Scarlett. It was probably just a bit of fun for him when beloved Scarlett wasn't on hand. How could he play with her mind like that? Obviously, their years of friendship meant nothing to him.

He was in love with Scarlett. Okay, so he didn't actually say those three words, but he may as well have. He didn't reject Scarlett's kiss after she professed her love for him. And that was more than enough to show how he felt. It was obvious to Rose that he reciprocated those feelings.

She was beyond annoyed at him. But what for, exactly? She didn't know. He couldn't help falling in love. You can't choose who you fall for. Rose knew that better than anyone.

She sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Judging by the light streaming through the window, and Caitlyn and Leila going through their daily beauty routine, it was late morning.

Dom's bed covers and pyjamas were strewn across the floor. Lizzie's bed was also empty, but it was neatly made with her nighty folded on top. _**  
><strong>_  
>"Nice of them to wake me," she grumbled.<p>

"Oh, you're awake," stated Leila, pausing from smearing make-up on her face to look at her.

"Evidently." Rose was not in a good mood this morning.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "They said they'd be waiting for you in the Great Hall."

"'Kay," she mumbled in reply.

Once dressed, she headed down to the common room. Everything was just as it usually was on a Saturday morning; the younger students were chugging through their homework and the older ones were lounging around, chatting. Someone howled with laughter over by the fireplace. It may have been selfish, but Rose found it odd how people could be laughing and acting as if nothing happened after what had happened yesterday.

She couldn't help but feel as though everyone was staring at her as she made her way to the Great Hall. Even the portraits seemed to be following her every move. They couldn't have known about Scarlett's declaration of love, could they? The only people there to witness it were herself, her family and the lover boy in question. They were people who she could trust. They wouldn't spread rumours.

Would they?

She instantly spotted Lizzie and Dom at their usual places on the Gryffindor table, but today they were accompanied by Hugo, Al and Louis.

Forcing a smile on her face, she plonked herself beside Lizzie. She didn't want them to know anything was wrong. "Hey, guys!"

They stopped talking at once. Al, sounding very concerned, was the first to speak. "Rose, how're you feeling?"

She gave him a confused look as she poured some Coco Quaffles and milk into her bowl. "Fine, of course. Why wouldn't I be? It's a lovely day!"

He shared a look with Louis, which Rose decided to ignore.

Did _everyone_have an inkling that she had a crush on Scorpius? How embarrassing.

"So, the weather's glorious today, isn't it?" she commented with a mouthful of food.

"It's raining," Louis said slowly.

"The rain's… cool. I love the rain."

"Look, we know you must be feeling upset," said Al. "Merlin, it hurt _me _to hear Scarlett say those words, and I'm not as sensitive as you."

Rose ran a hand through her wild hair. She hadn't bothered to brush it.

"I'm not bothered. I'm cool with them being smitten with each other. Hell, they could get married tomorrow and I wouldn't care! Scarlett could be pregnant with little blonde babies and I wouldn't give a dung bomb!" She was beginning to sound hysterical and took a sip of pumpkin juice to calm herself. "I'm totally chill."

"Liar. Give her the Veritaserum, Lou," said Al.

"W-what? That's illegal!"

"No one has to know," he replied in a sinister tone.

Rose squealed, sounding very much like her pet Pygmy Puff, and eyed the boys warily. "Er, no need for Veritaserum, guys. I actually am fine with the whole Scorp and Scarlett sitch." Saying their names together made her flinch involuntarily. "Since I, you know, happen to have my own boyfriend." Ah, Fabian… how come he always managed to slip her mind? "I'm not some pathetic little third year hopelessly in love with Scorpius, so just let it go. Now, I am going to go eat my breakfast in peace while you absorb what I just said, and hopefully it will only go through one of your ears. Good day."

And with that, she picked up her breakfast and strolled to other end of the long table. Dom and Lizzie followed, forcing the boys to stay where they were. They sat down either side of her.

"So, how're you_ really_feeling?" asked Dom. She had that no-nonsense look in her eyes, letting Rose know she would not accept 'fine' as an answer.

Rose looked up at her desperately, searching for an answer to her problems. "Honestly? Bad. Terrible. Angry. Stupid." She looked back down at her breakfast. "Mostly stupid."

Lizzie put an arm around her shoulder. Dom sighed. "You're a lot of things, Rosie, but stupid is certainly not one of them."

"I am, though. I should've known. I'm such an idiot; of course he was never gonna break up with Scarlett. She's too beautiful to lose." She slapped a hand onto her cheek and leant into it.

Dom couldn't help herself and rolled her eyes. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. And you're being a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Always telling me to stop being superficial and how it's what's on the inside that counts…"

"Yeah, but… but this is different," Rose countered.

There was a few seconds of silence in which she stared glumly at a scratch she had made with her fork on the wooden table top.

"For a second, I thought he was going to break up with Scarlett, too," said Lizzie after a while, shaking her head. "I can't believe it."

"Neither can I," Rose muttered. A first year reached to take a piece of toast from the platter in the middle of the table, but Rose quickly snatched it away irritably and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Well, it's his loss," shrugged Dom.

Rose risked a quick look around the Hall to try and spot him, but couldn't see him anywhere. He was probably in a broom cupboard spending precious time with his loved one.

She downed the rest of her pumpkin juice and breathed in and out deeply in an attempt to keep the contents of her stomach from coming back up.

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air," she said, standing up from the bench.

"You want us to come with?" Lizzie asked half-heartedly, already knowing the answer.

"Nah, it's alright. See you later."

With one last feeble wave to her friends, she left the Great Hall and wandered into the school grounds.

* * *

><p>On Saturday mornings most teenagers are in bed catching up on much needed sleep. Rose, however, was standing patiently outside a wooden hut which looked as if it might collapse on itself at any minute, waiting for the half-giant to let her inside. It wasn't too cold outside but steam was spiralling steadily out of the chimney.<p>

The door opened a crack and Hagrid's beaming face was looking down at her, stepping back to let her in. His familiar scraggly beard and twinkling beetle black eyes instantly made her feel at home. "Hello, Rosie, what a pleasure to see yeh! Where've yeh bin hidin', eh?"

"Hi Hagrid," Rose replied, allowing herself the first real smile of the day. She stepped into the hut and Hagrid engulfed her in a hug, thumping her a little too hard on the back. She made herself comfy on the same wooden chair by the table she'd always used to sit at while visiting him in the past in between the seats Al and – _ugh_ – Scorpius used to sit at. She hadn't been to see the friendly half-giant in a long while, mostly because life kept getting in the way. Plus, she was lazy. Hagrid lived quite a walk away from the castle, really. But she preferred to think it was mostly because of the former.

Hagrid's dog, a huge black and brown German shepherd, charged at her at full speed. She held back a shriek as she was almost knocked off her chair.

"Hi there, Bubbles," Rose cooed, scratching him behind the ear. "You're a good doggy, aren't you? Yes you are! Good doggy!"

After spending a good minute getting his saliva all over her hands and arms, Bubbles flopped contentedly onto the floor by her feet and promptly fell asleep. He was getting pretty old so Rose didn't blame him for wanting a quick nap.

Hagrid smiled at his guest. "So, wha' brings yeh here?"

"Oh, I was just passing by and thought I'd pop in for a visit."

Hagrid nodded. "Have yeh bin gettin' on alrigh', doin' yer schoolwork an' tha'?"

"Of course," Rose grinned at him.

"Tha's righ', brightest witch of yer age, just like yer mother! An' an appetite to match yer father, o' course."

Rose laughed lightly and relaxed into her seat. She remembered how comfortable Hagrid always made her feel and wished she'd come to see him more often. After all, she wouldn't be at Hogwarts for that much longer now. In half a year's time she'd be applying for jobs, trying to find a place of her own, attempting to get her life started. She cleared her head of these terrifying thoughts and politely took a rock cake from the plate Hagrid was holding up to her. She never ate them, but Hagrid didn't seem to mind.

"How's Hugo? Yer parents? The rest of the family?"

"They're all doing great," she said, nibbling on the edge of her cake. "Hugo's as annoying as ever, mum's as bossy as always, dad's eternally hungry and the rest of my family is still slightly insane."

"Good," Hagrid chuckled. "And how's Scorpius?"

_You know what?_ Rose thought. _I've had enough of acting like everything's fine, because it's not. I don't have to bottle this all up._

"Oh, he's same as always; a two-faced, back-stabbing, cheating lowlife," she answered bitterly. "Stupid Malfoy with his stupid arrogance and empty promises. Ugh. He's horrid. I absolutely _abhor_him." Her eyes widened. "Whoa. That felt good to say," she muttered.

Hagrid looked taken aback. "Now, Rosie, don' yer think tha's a bit harsh?"

She bit her lip. "Maybe a little… I swear I never used to be this dramatic. But he's been a real jerk, Hagrid."

"Yeh're best friends, aren' yeh? Wha' happened?"

Rose sighed. "What _didn't_happen? It's all very complicated."

"I'm willin' to listen," Hagrid smiled, leaning further back into his chair.

Rose considered telling Hagrid everything, but then found herself blushing. It would be a bit awkward discussing kissing and 'feelings' with Hagrid… she visibly cringed at the thought.

"You alrigh'?" he asked, concern filling his dark eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just; Scorpius and I aren't friends anymore."

Hagrid looked outraged. "An' why not?"

"I don't like to surround myself with people that lie."

Hagrid must have heard the note of bitterness in his voice, for he asked, "Would yeh like a butterbeer?"

She accepted the offer gratefully. The sweet taste soothed her throat and warmed her insides.

"Righ', tell me what he's done ter yeh."

She stared intently at her mug, not wanting to relive the experience.

"'e came to see me recently, y'know."

This made her look up. "Really?"

Hagrid nodded. "He told me abou' his… family problems. Don' yeh think yeh should be a bit more gentle on 'im after all tha's happened?"

"What family problems? What's happened?" she asked urgently, eyes wide with panic.

Hagrid's face twisted in confusion. "Yeh don' know?"

"No, I do not," she replied, getting a little annoyed. "What's happened?"

"Oh, well… maybe I shouldn' tell yeh, if he hasn' told yeh 'imself." He sounded unsure and scratched his greying beard.

"Did someone get hurt?" she asked worriedly, not really wanting to hear the answer. A horrible picture suddenly appeared in her mind of Astoria (she always insisted Rose call her that) or Mr Malfoy lying unconscious on a bed in St Mungo's. Her stomach squirmed at the thought.

"Uh – it's not really me place to say, Rosie. Although I woulda thought he'd tell yeh, of all people."

"Yeah, me too," Rose muttered. _Why didn't he tell me? _She downed the rest of her butterbeer and hiccupped. "I really had no clue." _Am I not trustworthy enough? He probably tells all these secrets to Scarlett_. She found herself becoming angrier and angrier.

"You know what?" she asked, slamming down her mug. "I don't even care. He had no right to string me along, whether something happened to his family or not. I have feelings too! That seemed to have escaped his attention."

Hagrid looked like he desperately wanted to say something, but managed to keep his lips tightly clamped together.

"He's such a stupid Slytherin. When did I ever think being friends with one of them would be a good idea? They're selfish and nasty. Er, except for Al, of course… and my friend Anjali… okay, a lot of them are lovely. But still!"

_Scarlett's on the manipulative, selfish side of Slytherin_, Rose reflected. _She probably spends loads of quality time with Scorpius in the dungeons. Maybe if I'd been put in the same house as him, thing would have played out differently…_

"I dunno wha' he's done to yeh, but yeh mus' remember tha' he's had a lot a stuff goin' on. Said summat he didn' mean, maybe," he replied, trying to calm her down.

"Something like that," she muttered darkly. "Well, he obviously doesn't care enough to let me know what's going on, so I guess I'll just leave him alone and get on with my own life. I'm done being the only one acting like a _friend_."

She stood up to leave before Hagrid could get a word in edgeways. "Thanks, Hagrid! This talk has really helped clear my head," she said with a grateful smile.

Hagrid chuckled and opened the front door to let her out. "Glad I could help. Now, do yeh promise ter visit more often?" he asked in a more serious tone.

"Course I will, Hagrid," she replied, giving him a departing hug. "I'm sure I can fit you in my schedule somewhere amidst studying for N.E.W.T.s and falling out with friends."

"That's me Rosie," Hagrid grinned. "Say hello to Hugo fer me, won' yeh? And try ter get on with Scorpius!"

That was one promise Rose was not willing to keep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_I hope this filler wasn't _too_ boring. What's going on with the Malfoys? And do you think I wrote Hagrid's dialogue okay? I have to admit, it was pretty fun to write :D Hopefully it wasn't overdone… anyways, feel free to tell me what you thought of this chapter in a review! I appreciate them all so so much. The next (more exciting) chapter will come in a week or two.

p.s. for some reason it's not possible to respond to anonymous reviews. So I'll respond here instead. :D

**Response to Unsad:** Okay, I didn't mean for it to be like Al knew the truth but Rose wasn't willing to listen. Al doesn't know any more than Rose does; they think Scorpius really does love Scarlett. She interrupted him because she doesn't want to talk about it, and that's it. It's not a case of 'You all know Scorp loves me but every time you try to tell me I refuse to listen'. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote 'you didn't hear the full story' because there wasn't anything else to hear. I've edited it now, thanks :-) I hope it's fixed now.


	14. Mistakes

**Chapter 14- Mistakes**

N.E.W.T.s were rapidly approaching and the seventh years were desperately trying to cram facts and figures into their heads. Rose's mother even went to the trouble of creating a revision timetable for her which Rose was incredibly thankful for, and she threw herself into studying, hiding in the deepest corners of the library away from any possible distractions. Even though she had spent most of the Easter holidays going over each subject, she didn't waste a minute's study time, wolfing her dinner down before dashing to the library.

She's didn't have to try to avoid Scorpius; the prick didn't even come looking for her to apologize or at least explain. Not , she missed having a study buddy, but on the bright side it was easier to concentrate alone.

However, even disappearing for half the day couldn't keep Rose from drama. It was unavoidable.

She caught up with Dom and Lizzie while walking to Charms, but as soon as she reached them Lizzie mumbled something incoherently and sped up to talk to someone in front of them.

"What's up with her?" Rose asked.

Dom shrugged and said, "No idea. You'd think you had Spattergroit or something."

Then at lunch when Rose sat down next to her opposite Dom, Lizzie mumbled an excuse that she had to go ask her cousin something and ran over to the Hufflepuff table, eating the remainder of her lunch there. By then Rose had a feeling she wasn't just being paranoid.

"Have I done something?" she asked softly once they were up in their dormitory, joining Lizzie to collect her books for the next lesson.

Lizzie looked alarmed and hastily stuffed her books into her bag. "What? No. Why?"

"I'm not stupid - you've been avoiding me and I don't know why. There are only so many people I can fall out with at a time, Lizzie-wizzy," she pouted.

Lizzie smiled nervously, "I'm not angry at you. I'm just worried about these stupid N.E.W.T.s, but I'm sorry if it seems like I'm avoiding you. I don't do it on purpose."

Rose hesitated for a few seconds. Lizzie was definitely lying – she wasn't maintaining eye contact, she looked on edge and she kept swallowing. That girl never was a decent liar.

Something was up, and it didn't look like she wanted Rose to know what it was.

Why were people so distrustful of her these days? Was she really that bad a friend?

Prying would count as being a bad friend, wouldn't it? She decided to let Lizzie reveal what was bothering her in her own time. She knew how annoying it was when people snooped around her own business, after all.

"Good," Rose smiled. She leaned in for a hug which Lizzie returned almost reluctantly. Strange. "Don't worry too much about N.E.W.T.s, okay? I can help with anything you're stuck on. And I'm always here to listen, you know that, right?"

Lizzie nodded, said, "Same goes for you," and returned the smile before leaving Rose alone in the bathroom.

Rose wasn't too worried. Lizzie never could hide secrets for long – she'd come around in no time.

* * *

><p>Rose was sat next to a window with glorious views of the setting sun whilst revising potions when Albus walked over to her with, to her utter astonishment, a lady friend.<p>

He hadn't had a friend-who-was-a-girl in a long while, ever since his peculiar crush on Scarlett started. Rose thanked the heavens that he was finally moving on.

"Hey Rose, mind if we join you?" he asked, plonking himself down opposite Rose. "All the other tables are taken."

"Er, not at all," she replied, raising an eyebrow at him and flickering her gaze towards the petite girl standing behind him, tugging nervously on her reddy-brown hair.

"This is Lara," he announced proudly. "She's a fifth year."

"Hi," said Lara shyly in a sweet, high-pitched voice.

"Hey," Rose replied, smiling. Lara offered a small smile in return and sat down beside Al rather gracefully, as far as sitting down goes.

There was a long pause which Rose felt the need to fill with whatever first popped into her mind. "Have you heard about the time when we got to meet the Minister for Magic's family, and Al tripped over his own feet in front of his daughters–" Al covered Rose's mouth before she could continue. Lara began to giggle.

He gave Rose the dirtiest look he could muster. Rose joined in the giggling. "Sorry."

"You'll have to tell me that story some time," Lara smiled amusedly at Al.

"Not likely," he muttered, smiling slightly.

After a short pause, Lara said softly, "Um, I'm just going to go pick out some books to help with my work."

"Al!" Rose whispered with a wide smile once Lara was out of earshot. "She's so nice!"

"I know," he replied contentedly.

"How did you meet?"

"In the Slytherin common room. We're both early risers. We've been kind of friends for a while, actually, but we've become quite close recently."

"That's really great," Rose beamed. "You should ask her out."

"Yeah… might do. You know, I'd be kinda lonely without her, what with Scorpius being a stupid idiot and all."

"You're not friends with each other anymore?" she enquired nonchalantly.

"Ha, no. He knew I really liked Bell, so he goes and stays in a relationship with her anyway?" Al sighed heavily. "I'm giving him the silent treatment. Obviously I still have to see him a lot as we live in the same dormitory, but it's pretty easy for the most part. I_ have_ noticed that he's always sulking around, though. He's definitely lost that spring in his step, which is interesting considering girlfriends are meant to make you _happy_, not depressive."

Rose pretended not to care about the comments about Scorpius. "Really '_liked_'… past tense? Are you over Scarlett then?"

Al nodded, looking around nervously to make sure no-one, or more specifically Lara, could hear, "I think so. I mean, I don't follow her around anymore and I've come to the realisation that her crazy mood swings would be pretty hard to deal with."

"Finally! I've been waiting for this moment for ages!" Rose said, pinching Al's cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, Albus Severus."

"Geroff," he muttered.

"Now we just need to make Hugo see sense."

"Oh, Hugo's well over her. You know, I have this niggling suspicion that he only went after Scarlett in the first place because I let slip to him a while ago that _I _was after Scarlett."

Well, that was news to Rose. "Oh, really? That's good then, I guess. But there wasn't much point of making us go through that whole crazy spy mission for a girl he hardly even liked…"

"That's Hugo for you," Al shrugged.

"Can't believe you devoted so much of your life to stalking her, though. Well actually, I can. It's you we're talking about here."

He rolled his eyes and said, "I don't just get stupid little crushes, okay, I get _infatuations_!" At that moment Lara returned with a pile of ancient Herbology books, causing Al's cheek to go pink. Rose smiled to herself when she noticed Al explaining things Lara didn't understand, and it was hard to ignore the not-so-subtle arm brushes and hand touches when they turned bright red every time it happened.

They worked in silence for a good ten minutes, with Rose stifling her giggles at their cuteness, before getting interrupted.

"Rosie!" trilled a voice she had grown to loathe. "Guess what!"

Rose sighed as she looked up from her potions textbook. A tall skinny girl with perfectly curled dark hair and ruby red cheeks looked back at her excitedly. "What, Scarlett?"

"I'm in love!" she squealed, clapping her hands together and jumping about giddily. She seemed to be completely unaware of Albus and Lara sitting there with their fingers in their ears to shield their eardrums from the piercing noise.

Rose's eyes narrowed. "Of course you are."

"Quiet, please!" called Madam Pryce crabbily.

Scarlett lowered her voice a little and concluded her little clapping dance. "I told Scorpy I love him the other day! And then we kissed for ages! It was _so _romantic, right by the lake with the breeze gently blowing my hair and everything," she sighed dreamily.

"Sounds great," Rose muttered sarcastically. _Too bad the Giant Squid didn't make an appearance and eat you._

Scarlett put her hands over her heart. "I've never been happier in my life, he makes me feel like –"

"Uh, I'm kind of in the middle of studying here, 'cause, you know, I have to take my _Nastily Exhausting_ Wizarding Tests in a matter of weeks." _Why can't she take the hint?_

"Oh, yes, of course! There must be so much pressure on you to do well, what with your family history for being geniuses and all."

"Not really. My parents just want me to do my best, that's all that matters to them," Rose lied. In reality, she knew how disappointed her mum would be if she got less than Exceeds Expectations in anything. Her father, however, would be happy as long as she beats Scorpius. She was definitely going to try to please them both.

"Your parents sound so lovely," Scarlett smiled, looking off into the distance. "My dad said if I don't get all O's next year, I'm getting disowned."

Rose nodded. "Interesting tale, old chap." _Please leave now_.

"So, what are you planning to be when you leave Hogwarts?" Scarlett asked, cocking her head to the side.

_How does that concern you, exactly? _"Don't know really, maybe a Charms Professor or something." _Ugh, damn Scarlett for always giving her full attention as if she actually cares about what I'm saying…_

Scarlett considered this for a moment. "Hmm… Professor Weasley. I like it! Or Professor Foster, if you get married."

Rose coughed uncomfortably. "Um, I don't think I'll be getting married anytime soon.""No, you certainly won't be, not if I have anything to do with it," muttered Al.

"Well, personally I'd _kill _to be a St Mungo's Welcome Witch. The job looks ever so fun and the lady is always so jolly!" Scarlett beamed. "It's been my dream job since for_ever_."

The scariest part was that Rose could easily picture Scarlett as a Welcome Witch, grinning from ear to ear at visitors and saying, 'Hello, I'm Scarlett Bell, St Mungo's Welcome Witch, and I'd be thrilled to help you!' in that annoyingly over cheerful voice of hers.

Rose made a mental note to avoid ever going to St Mungo's if she could help it.

She flipped the page of her textbook and resumed reading.

"Well, it's been great chatting to you! I'll be off to go find Scorpy," Scarlett chirruped.

"Have fun," Rose sneered.

_They suit each other perfectly,_she thought.

"Will do," Scarlett replied as she happily skipped away.

Wow. Rose was such a cow to Scarlett and she knew it, yet Scarlett seemed completely oblivious to Rose's sarcasm. And it annoyed her to no end.

What's the fun in mocking people if they don't even _notice_?

* * *

><p>Rose was fast asleep in bed, exhausted after spending three quarters of an hour reviewing how popcorn was made and during which activities it was usually devoured by Muggles. Whilst revising her mind flitted back to that lesson before she and Fabian started dating when she had called it 'poopcorn'. She ears still tinged pink at the memory.<p>

She hadn't spent much time with Fabian lately, now that she thought about it. Preparation for the upcoming exams consumed all her time and she only really saw him in Muggle Studies. She hated the thought of drifting apart from him; he was really sweet and great to spend time with (apart from the times when he was annoyingly persistent), not to mention he treated her like a lady and never lied to her unlike _some _boys she knew.

Her dream about – what else – a homicidal rubber duck was ended abruptly by someone breathing on her face. She shrieked and sat up straight in bed, clutching the covers close to her pumping heart and scrutinizing the room carefully for any flash of yellow. It turned out to just be Lizzie, who leapt back in surprise.

"It's just me! Elizabeth Lola Martin, dorm mate, best friend of nearly seven years. No rubber duck around for miles," she added at the stricken look on Rose's face.

"Oh, thank Merlin," she mumbled groggily. "What'd you wake me up for?"

"Well," Lizzie began quietly, sitting on the edge of Rose's bed. "I need to tell you something important."

"Can't it wait till morning? I'm awfully tired," she replied, yawning for effect. "It's, like, gone midnight."

"No. I don't think I can wait that long. You know how I can't keep anything a secret; I have a terrible guilty conscience."

"Guilty? Uh-oh, what've you done?" Rose asked warily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Going paler than a blanket of snow, Lizzie whispered, "I've done a really bad thing, Rose."

'A really bad thing' in Lizzie's standards was skipping breakfast or handing in homework late; Rose really wasn't expecting anything too dreadful.

"You aren't pregnant, are you?" Rose asked teasingly.

Lizzie shook her head solemnly and bit her lip. "Worse."

"Murdered anyone?"

"No," Lizzie answered humourlessly.

"Don't tell me you read that horrible book, 'Midnight Dusk'?"

"Nope. I did something a _lot_worse."

Rose raised an eyebrow and gestured for Lizzie to continue.

"Can I ask you a question?" she finally asked.

"Erm, I guess?"

"Do you believe in love?"

Rose laughed. What kind of question was that? "Of course. As that famous old wizard once said, 'pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love," she said in a deep voice.

Rose was disappointed to see that Lizzie did not even crack a smile.

"Are you in love with Fabian?"

Whoa, hold on a second. Where did that come from?

"Well, I… I don't know really." What _was _love, anyway? She had enough sense to know it wasn't a fairy-tale or a storybook, but whatever it was, she was pretty sure that she was not currently in it. "I don't think so, no. I really like him, but, no."

Lizzie sighed in relief.

"Good?"

"Yeah… here's the thing. You won't like what I'm about to say. I completely understand if you never want to talk to me again, but please tell me you'll hear me out before you announce I am dead to you. Please?"

Where was she going with this? And more importantly, who could say no to those big brown eyes?

"Sure, I'll hear you out."

"Okay." Lizzie's eyes fluttered shut and she took a deep, steadying breath. The room was deafeningly silent as Rose waited for her to speak. "Wekidinkitchen," she mumbled.

"Say again?" Rose requested.

"We kissed… in the kitchens." Lizzie opened her eyes and looked straight into Rose's blue ones.

"You kissed who?" Rose asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

"Your boyfriend," Lizzie squeaked, tears brimming in her eyes.

There was a few seconds pause.

"What?" Rose choked, sitting up straighter.

Lizzie was full on sobbing now. "Two nights ago, I was in the kitchens getting some ice-cream and F- Fabian was there and he was joking around as usual and we had this mini food fight and then h- he wiped some cream off my nose and he leaned forward and we kissed," she said in a teary rush.

"What… why? How could you?" Rose whispered. Her brain was working overtime trying to process the hogwash her best friend was saying.

"I don't know!" Lizzie wailed. "It was a complete mistake! I'm so sorry, Rose! I swear on my mother's life that I pulled away really quickly; I was just so completely caught off guard… I don't know what he was thinking…"

Rose was absolutely stunned. She had no idea what to do but morbid curiosity kept her rooted to the spot. "What did you do after you kissed?"

"We agreed it was a huge mistake and pledged never to speak of it," Lizzie sniffed, "but I couldn't _not _tell you, Rose. I'm sorry for avoiding you, but every time I looked at you I thought about what I'd done and nearly broke down in tears!"

Rose looked down at her hands. Was this for real? Was she dreaming? This was just_ not_ the kind of thing Lizzie did. _Ever._

"It was a mistake, I'm so sorry," Lizzie said again. She bravely went in to hug her but Rose was unresponsive.

"Look, just… I just need some time to think, alright?" Rose said shakily, lying back down in bed, pulling the covers up tight and facing away from Lizzie. With a wave of her wand, the hangings closed shut around her.

"Okay," Lizzie breathed into the silence, going back to her own bed.

Needless to say, Rose didn't get a wink of sleep that night, and neither did Lizzie.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**Oh, snap! Who was expecting that? Hopefully this dramatic chapter made up for the last one :D

Also, I would be eternally grateful if you checked out my new story, Enchanté, and tell me what you think. It's yet another next gen but it's really different to this story. /self-advertisement;)


	15. Ache

**Chapter 15- Ache**

When Rose walked into her Muggle Studies lesson and spotted Fabian sitting at their desk as per usual, smiling adorably, looking one hundred per cent innocent, she felt a little queasy to say the least. Here sat the charming boy that kissed her best friend.

Why didn't she listen to her father's advice of staying clear from boys? Everything would have been a lot simpler if she had.

"Hi flower," he said when she reached their desks.

She raised an eyebrow at the pet name. _Barf. _

"Hey," she replied lightly. There was silence as she pondered how to bring up the dreaded subject.

She had no chance to interrogate him just yet as Professor Wright had just started the lesson, however she wouldn't miss her opportunity after class. He was _not_getting away with this.

"This is your last lesson to get the magazine done, as we're going to be going back over all topics we've studied this year in the last few lessons leading up to your N.E.W.T.s. So that means no chatting, no messing about and most importantly no canoodling with your neighbour! I know what you adolescents are like. You've got a lot to get done today."

Everyone groaned.

"Can't we have a fun lesson, sir?" begged Bertie McGee. "We'll work extra hard in the next few lessons if we can watch Mean Girls again, promise!"

"No, no, Minerva will have my head in, unfortunately. However, I have brought in a bowl of sugar cubes to appease you all, and maybe even give you some extra oomph to get your work done," he said, lifting the lid of the silver platter on his desk to reveal the sugar cubes. "Hand them out, will you, Mr McGee."

"We're not horses, sir! Besides, sugar cubes are detrimental to the enamel of the tooth!"

"Ah, so you paid attention in the new Muggle Dentistry and Health topic added to the syllabus last year, I see!" Professor Wright replied, looking pleased, shoving the bowl into the student's hands.

Rose was glad to see she had new letters in her agony aunt box. Naturally, half of them were about how to get their crush to notice them and things like 'I'm in love with one girl but dating another- help me!', but one question in particular caught her eye.

_Dear Rose,  
>I ruined my relationship with my best friend because of a stupid mistake involving her boyfriend. I told her what happened truthfully but she still won't talk to me. How can I let her see that I truly am sorry and that she means the world to me?<br>Miss Regretful_

The corners of her lips tugged up into a little smile. Lizzie was so sweet.

_**Dear Miss Regretful,  
>Your friend just needs time. What you did was obviously hurt her, but if your friendship means anything to her, she'll forgive you eventually. Sisters must always come before misters on a girl's list of priorities. Don't give up hope just yet!<br>**__**Rose**_

She glanced sideways at Fabian who was tapping his fingernails on the desk while he proofread his article on music. The drumming was getting on her nerves. If she_ really_liked Fabian, wouldn't she hate Lizzie forever for attempting to steal him? Instead she found herself angrier at Fabian for not staying loyal to her. Her annoyance at Lizzie was already wearing away, especially since she'd come clean to Rose whilst Fabian had yet to utter a word. They'd become sisters over the last several years; Rose had known Fabian for a matter of months.

She couldn't help but compare the situation to the one involving Scorpius. She hated the fact that he was with someone else, it physically hurt to see him holding hands with another girl. But the thought of Fabian kissing Lizzie… sure, the infidelity was annoying, not to mention the extremely odd mental image, but it still didn't make her want to scream at the top of her lungs or throw Lizzie into the Black Lake.

When they bell finally rung she scooped up her chosen questions and replies to go in the magazine and dropped them on Professor Wright's desk where he was stuck nose deep in some fluffy Fifi LaFolle novel. Rose grinned to herself; she was going to miss this daft man once she left Hogwarts.

Fabian was stood waiting for her by the door. So far, so good.

She smiled sweetly at him as he automatically took her hand. Her hand suddenly felt too small in his large ones. She decided to waste no time and cut straight to the point.

"So, Fabian," she began, glancing up at him with a determined glint in her eyes, "I hear you went to the kitchens recently after curfew. I may just have to tell the Head Girl on you."

He kept his composure and laughed softly in response. "Don't tell me you've never taken an evening trip to the kitchens."

She shrugged, "might've done. So, you really did sneak out, huh? Anything interesting happen down there?"

He could sense something was up. Tugging at his shirt collar, he swallowed visibly. "Nope, nothing out of the extreme. Got myself a lovely iced bun. Er, why do you ask, if you don't mind me asking?"

Her jaw clenched; he wasn't going to be honest with her. He was lying and they both knew it.

"I was told by a close friend of mine that a very, shall we say, _intimate_moment was shared, actually," she stated with gritted teeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said apathetically.

"Fabian!"

She snatched her hand away and swivelled round to face him, hands on hips. Passers-by looked on warily. "You kissed Lizzie in the kitchens. Do you deny or confirm that statement?"

He was a deer caught in the headlights with no means of escape. He cursed under his breath. "You weren't meant to find out…"

A storm was beginning to rage in Rose's eyes. "It was going to be your dirty little secret, was it? String me along while you go kissing other girls behind my back? My own best friend, of all people? I know I've been concentrating a lot on the exams lately and haven't given you as much attention as you'd like, but it's still no excuse. You disgust me," she spat, voice dripping with acid. He tried to defend himself but she spoke over him. "I hate guys like you. You know what the funny thing is? I thought you were sweetest boy ever, so unlike all the others. But as it turns out, you're no different."

"Um… sorry, but please calm down," he said timidly, taking a step back.

"No, I will not calm down, Foster!" Rose hissed. "Stop telling me what to do! You're so controlling and, ugh, I just can't believe you'd cheat! Who else have you been getting with?"

"It was a mistake, okay! It shouldn't have happened and we agreed afterwards to forget about it, that's why I wasn't going to tell you!" he said in one breath before she could get another word in edgeways. "She agreed to keep it a secret…"

"Yeah, well _Lizzie_ is a _proper_friend who actually cares about me."

"I care too," he mumbled meekly. "I knew you'd react badly. I didn't want you to get hurt."

She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "Well. You did a pretty lousy job at that, don't you think? I want you to stay away from me, my friends, and everyone in my family. And don't you dare put any other girls what you've put me through or… or you'll have me to answer to," she said, voice wobbling at the end.

Rose thought his eyes looked a little glazed over. "Rose, please."

She shook her head as tears were invading her own eyes. "You weren't even going to tell me. There can't be a relationship without trust."

Tears began to fall as she turned away and stumbled down the rest of the corridor, leaving Fabian to be engulfed by his own regret as he watched her retreating figure.

It occurred to her a little later on that perhaps she had been a _little_ dramatic. But hey, she was a teenage girl. She _deserved _that privilege.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later Rose found herself sobbing on the dusty ground of an empty classroom on the ground floor, leaning against the teacher's desk. She hated arguing and getting all worked up, and breaking up with someone was never a nice situation to be in.<p>

Having people walk in on you crying your heart out isn't too pleasant a situation, either.

She looked up in alarm when the door flung open and in walked Poppy Parkinson, giggling madly, clutching onto the arm of some tall dark and handsome member of the Slytherin house. Luckily, she spotted Rose almost immediately, a blubbering wreck on the floor, and froze in her tracks.

"This room seems to be taken, maybe we should find somewhere a bit more private," the bloke murmured into her neck.

Poppy bit her lip and looked torn. Should she stay or should she go? Was it worth ditching a boy to listen to the woes of Rose Weasley?

After a moment's deliberation she whispered something in his ear to which he shrugged disappointedly and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Cautiously, Poppy placed herself next to Rose. "'Sup, Weasley?"

Rose sniffed and looked at Poppy apprehensively. "Why would you want to comfort me when you had that boy with you?"

Poppy looked uncomfortable. "Well you listened to me go on about my dad, didn't you? I reckon you need someone to talk to. It's only fair I return the favour."

Rose smiled through her tears, "You're not so bad for Slytherin, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm fabulous," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Now, why the long face?"

She could trust Poppy. Right?

"I broke up with Fabian," Rose said with a hiccup. "He kissed Lizzie a few days ago and wasn't going to tell me, so I kind of yelled at him and said it was over and it was all so horrible." She frowned and leant her head on Poppy's bony shoulder.

"Funny, I never had Foster down as a cheater," Poppy mused.

"Me neither," Rose grumbled.

"You don't think it's worth giving him a second chance?"

Rose shook her head.

"Well… think of the positives. You're now single and ready to mingle. No responsibilities of staying loyal to one person. Freedom!"

"I guess."

"Are you mad at, er, Lizzie?" It was weird hearing Poppy call someone by their first name.

"Not really. I was angry at first, but I got over it pretty quickly. It's not her fault."

Poppy nodded. After a short pause she said, "I thought you'd have gotten with Malfoy by now. Who would you rather be with – Foster or Malfoy? Trying to be with both of them is evidently not going well for you."

Rose moved her head sharply off of her shoulder and looked at Poppy in shock. "What?"

"Uh, reality check! You can't have both boys. That's just selfish- think about all the other single girls in our school desperate to have a chance with either one of those hotties," Poppy smirked. "Choose one or the other, it's not fair to mess them about."

"I'm not messing anyone about!"

Poppy raised a perfect eyebrow. "I remember walking past you and Malfoy the other day and, boy, did it look cosy. Personally, I think I'd stick to Foster at the moment. I'm going through this tall, dark and handsome phase."

"I can tell."

"Then again, he seems to be suffering from loyalty issues."

"So is Scorpius, though! He promised he'd break up with Scarlett to be with me. And then I watched as he kissed her instead."

Poppy raised both eyebrows now. "Oh, wow. So you were planning to cheat on Foster with Malfoy before he even cheated on you, then?" She snorted. "Bit hypocritical."

"N- no, it wasn't like that," Rose said desperately.

"What was it like, then?"

Rose didn't answer. It was_ completely _like that. Her face heated up. "Oh my Merlin, I am such an abysmal, poor excuse for a human being."

"Nah, you're not abysmal. You're just a normal human who makes mistakes," she answered wisely.

"I'm just as bad as he is! Although, I'm pretty sure I would've broken up with him immediately, instead of pretending my kisses with Scorpius never happened…"

"So you prefer Scorpius, then?"

Rose cleared her throat. "Yeah. Of course. But he's a liar, cheater, betrayer, et cetera. He loves Scarlett, not me, and he hasn't come to see me since the day he told me he'd break up with Scarlett. If I'm not mistaken, that means it's pretty clear that he's not interested."

"Maybe there's more to this than you think," suggested Poppy.

"Like what?"

Poppy shrugged shrewdly. "Talk to him. Find out. He's a good person, you know."

Without warning she stood up, stretched her arms above her head and headed for the door. "Well, it's been nice chatting, Weasley. Hope I've helped."

"Wait!" Rose scrambled up as Poppy turned to look at her curiously. "Er, thanks, Poppy. I needed to hear all that."

Poppy half-smiled. "Any time."

Rose was left on her own in the darkening classroom, contemplating what to do next.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**I don't own the film Mean Girls - it belongs to Paramount pictures.

Thank you very much for reading! Let me know what you thought of the chapter. :D  
>p.s. the next chapter's a big one.<p> 


	16. The Truth

**Chapter 16-** The Truth 

Not talking to Lizzie, Scorpius or Fabian was no fun. Al was off with Lara somewhere in the castle.

The only person Rose had to talk to was Dom, really, and even she got annoyed at Rose after spending the best part of an hour listening to her go on and on about what a horrible person she was.

Taking Dom's advice, Rose went down to the kitchens and politely asked Mitzi the house-elf to bake a chocolate cake.

"Here you go, miss!" she squeaked a short while later, awakening her from her daydreams.

Rose thanked Mitzi and then rushed back up to the common room where she saw Lizzie sprawled on a sofa by the fire chatting to Hayley. She attracted a few weird (and some desirous) looks from other students for bringing a huge cake into the room.

"Um, Lizzie?" Rose said feebly, causing the two girls to glance up at her. She passed her the cake. "I got this for you."

Lizzie froze for a few seconds before breaking out into a grin that could have rivalled that of the Cheshire cat. Rose was knocked backwards as Lizzie flung herself at her and they ended up a giggling heap on the floor.

"I'm sorry," said Lizzie once they'd sobered up a bit.

"I'm sorry," Rose echoed. They burst out giggling again, delighted to have each other back.

"I knew it!" Hayley exclaimed. "You were only hanging out with me because you were in a little tiff with your _real_best friend. You know what, Lizzie? You're no better than your sister."

Hayley turned and dashed out of the common room.

Stunned, Lizzie turned to look at Rose and, with an apologetic expression on her face, she sprinted after her cousin.

Rose thanked Merlin this was her last year of high school. She didn't think she could cope with any more drama.

* * *

><p>"Okay, who stole my pink fluffy bunny slippers?" roared Dom, glaring at each of the four girls in turn. "I know it was one of you."<p>

Leila, Caitlyn, Lizzie and Rose were standing in a line in their dormitory in front of Dom, who had her hands on her hips and facial features arranged into a scowl.

"Was it you?" she pointed at Leila, who shook her head frantically. "You?" Caitlyn bit her lip anxiously and shook her head once. "It was you, wasn't it?" Lizzie stared Dom straight in the eye and calmly answered, "no." Dom moved to stand in front of Rose, standing on her tippy toes in order to intimidate her. Rose could see up her nostrils from that angle so, needless to say, it didn't work. "Rose Lavender Weasley, I know it was you," Dom growled.

"Nope. I did not steal your pink fluffy bunny slippers," said Rose with conviction. "Why would I steal your pink ones when I bought a matching pair in blue last Christmas?"

"You tell me," Dom said, running a hand through her golden hair in frustration. "You're the one that took 'em!"

"I did not take your slippers, Dommie," Rose said jadedly. "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a billywig sting in my eye."

Dom squinted her eyes. "Then how come I can see them lying all innocently UNDER YOUR BED?"

All the girls in the dormitory gasped appropriately, including Rose. "W- what?"

Sure enough, when Rose went to take a closer look, there were three fluffy items under her bed: two slippers and one Pygmy Puff.

"I honestly have no idea how they got there," Rose said quickly, looking unsurely up at her cousin.

"Oh, I suppose they just grew legs and walked under your bed then, did they?" Dom snarled.

"Wait, they actually did," announced Lizzie, who was crouched by Rose's bed surveying the slippers. "Look!"

She held the slippers in question up and everyone in the dormitory could clearly see two skinny little legs attached to each slipper, wriggling about.

"I'm guessing you bought them from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?"

Rose looked back over to Dom with pursed lips. "I stole them, did I?"

Dom suddenly became very interested in her nails. "Sorry," she muttered.

Rose smiled, victorious. Dom apologized! Where were the flying pigs?

"Hey, Rose, what's this doing under your bed?" Lizzie asked, pulling out a twinkling golden snitch with fluttering wings.

Rose's smile faltered. "Oh… it's a pot of ink that I bought for…"

Lizzie looked at her questioningly.

Rose looked around nervously and made sure Caitlyn and Leila had left the room. They had. "For Scorpius. Y'know, back when we were friends." The last thing she needed was gossip about them circulating round the school.

"Ah. What was it doing under your bed?"

"I don't know, really. I got it on the last Hogsmeade trip. Maybe I put it there for safe-keeping?"

"Mmm. Well, there's not much point just keeping it under here to rot away."

Rose silently agreed and popped it into her satchel.

"And what's this?" Lizzie asked, bravely reaching an arm into the murky darkness of the bottom of the bed and pulling out a photograph with a ripped edge. "Oh, it's Scorpius… you keep a picture of him under your bed? That's kind of creepy," she giggled.

"Give me that!" Rose snapped, tugging it out of Lizzie's hands and abruptly halting her laughter. "Can you stop snooping through my stuff, please?"

"Sure, sorry," Lizzie muttered. She fled over to her own bed.

"Sorry," Rose repeated. She was getting déjà vu. Merlin, they'd only just made up; she didn't want them to fall out _again_over something as petty as this.

She looked down at the crumpled photograph she was holding. Scorpius was smirking at the camera before stealing a glance to the left of him, where Rose would've been standing but was actually the ripped edge of the photograph, and smiled cheekily. Then he turned back to face the camera and the cycle started again.

What was it Poppy had said? _Maybe there's more to this than you think… talk to him, find out…_

Rose found herself desperately wanting to see him again. Maybe Poppy was right; she should be the mature one and go talk to him. There was no point moping around and avoiding each other. One thing was for sure: he had some serious explaining to do.

She bit her lip. "I'm going to go find Scorpius."

"What?" Dom's head snapped towards her with an audible _crack_. "_Ow_."

"We're being completely ridiculous, skirting around each other. I want to know why he did what he did, and that's it. Don't worry, I'm not going to fall at his feet and beg him to dump Scarlett and run off into the sunset with me on a unicorn," Rose added at the look of horror on Dom's face.

"But Rose, you saw with your own eyes what he did!" Dom gaped at her.

"Poppy's got me suspicious that there's something else going on, though," Rose said, hope interlaced in her voice. "And besides, I miss our friendship more than anything else."

"Poppy, as in Poppy Parkinson? Mother of Merlin – what were you talking to _her_for?" Dom demanded.

"She's pretty ace at advice-giving, as it turns out," Rose replied, mouth twitching. "She could give even me, the school's agony aunt, a run for my money."

"B- but she went out with Scorpius, and she's a piece of work, and she's friends with Lizzie's evil twin, and – and she's _Parkinson_!" Dom spluttered.

Rose tilted her head back slightly and couldn't help but let out a creepy cackle. "I know. It's crazy."

She swung her satchel over her shoulder and crossed the room to the door. "I'll see you guys later," she said, grinning over her shoulder at her friends' disbelieving faces.

* * *

><p>Her good mood had evaporated completely by the time she got to the library. She had no idea where Scorpius would be lurking, but followed her instinct and the Room Full of Glorious Books seemed the right place to go.<p>

Rose silently entered the room and spotted Scorpius immediately, sitting at his usual table by himself, scribbling away on some parchment. Her relief was quickly replaced by nerves. _This is weird_, she thought. _It shouldn't have been this easy to find him…  
><em>

She muttered a greeting to Madam Pryce and took a deep breath. Stomach squirming uncomfortably, she forced her legs to step closer to him until she was standing about two metres away. He hadn't noticed her yet.

Deciding to remain inconspicuous, she took a seat at the table closest to his and placed her bag rather heavily onto the desk in front of her. Still, he was absorbed in his writing.

She got out a textbook and began to – what else – revise.

As she was turning the page, a familiar voice spoke up. "Rose?"

She instantly looked up at him. "Scorpius."

"What are you doing here?"

"Am I prohibited from entering a public library?" she asked, giving him a calculating look. She didn't mean to sound so cold; it just came out that way after not speaking to him for a while.

He scratched the back of his neck. "Well, no, of course not. I just, er, I didn't notice you there."

"What's that you're writing?" she asked, glancing at the parchment in front of him.

"Oh, it's, well, I was writing you a letter," he said feebly, going a light shade of pink.

"Me?"

"Yeah," he handed the letter over. "I've been meaning to talk to you, actually…"

"Oh, you have, have you?" she scoffed, beginning to read the hastily written words. Even though it was short, there were many scribbles and crossings out. Scorpius coughed awkwardly as she read.

_Rose,  
>I know you're probably really angry at me right now and I completely understand- you have every reason to be. But we need to talk, and soon. These past few days have been really sucky. Meet me in the restricted section at seven o'clock tonight?<em>

_Scorpius_

"How exactly were you planning to get into the restricted section?" she asked curtly, though she couldn't help the smile that was playing on her lips; he _was _planning on talking to her, after all!

"I have my ways," he said mysteriously.

She snorted. "Well anyway, I guess now's as good a time as any to have this talk, right?"

He hesitated for a few seconds but nodded all the same. They decided to move to a more secluded part of the library where they would be less likely to be overheard and sat down opposite each other.

"So," Scorpius began.

"So," Rose imitated.

Both of them refused to look at the other.

"I hate not talking to you." It came rushing out of her mouth before she could stop it.

Scorpius looked up at her in surprise; he stopped fiddling with his bag strap and gave her his full attention. "Oh?"

"Yeah," she replied, trying to control the blush that was creeping up her neck.

"I don't blame you. I've been told multiple times how much of a joy I am to be around –"

"This was a bad idea. I'm leaving," she muttered, standing up from her chair, but Scorpius caught her arm and pulled her back down.

"I missed you too," he said, eyes softening. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I really want to be friends again."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Me too," she answered immediately, "but for that to happen, we need to have trust, alright? No more secrets."

"No more secrets," he agreed.

"Okay, so, first thing's first. Why did you say you wanted to be with me when you… when really you love Scarlett?" she asked tentatively, afraid of the answer.

Scorpius's eyebrows crinkled together. "I don't love Scarlett."

… _THANK MERLIN._It was music to her ears.

"What? But I saw what happened by the lake - you're both in love!" she spluttered.

"No, it's a one-sided thing. Unrequited, I guess… wait, what? You saw it?"

"Yeah," she replied sheepishly. "I was with Al outside the castle but we honestly weren't expecting to see you two there."

"Okay, well I was going to break up with her there and then, by the lake, just like I promised you I would. I swear on my mother's life. You believe me, don't you, Rose?"

He looked desperately into her eyes, begging her to have faith in him. She nodded once.

"But then she said she _loved_me and I just didn't have the heart to break up with her after that. Who would? I'm not convinced she's actually in love with me anyway, I mean she doesn't really know me. She's the one that does all the talking, barely letting me get a word in."

"That's Scarlett for you," Rose muttered.

"I just don't want to let anybody down. It's hard, really hard, trying to please everyone all the time. I guess I learnt that the hard way."

"Then why are you still with her?"

He stared at the table in front of him for a while before finally replying, "I don't know."

Rose exhaled sharply through her nose, annoyed, but leant in to give him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, a little awkwardly at first until he relaxed, and she smothered her face in his shoulder. She breathed in deeply and felt comforted by his familiar woodsy smell. "Well, thanks for finally telling me the truth. In other news, Fabian and I broke up."

His head shot up. "Why? What'd he do?"

She liked how he automatically blamed Fabian for the break up.

"Kissed Lizzie," she said with a shrug.

Abruptly, Scorpius stood up from his seat, his chair whacking into the bookcase behind him from the force. His eyebrows scrunched together in incredulity and his fists clenched together. "He cheated on you?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said quietly, not wanting to inflame his anger further.

"Always knew he was a prick. Where is he?"

"Um, you're not gonna do anything really bad to him, are you?" she asked uneasily. "I don't want him to get seriously hurt…"

"Fine, I won't _seriously _hurt him, then. Seriously being the key word," he answered firmly, marching out of the library and forgetting his bag completely.

Rose sighed and rested her chin into her palm as she watched him leave, the ghost of a smile playing at her lips.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later Scorpius returned to the library and Rose looked up from her Transfiguration notes. He looked a bit flustered but was otherwise unharmed.<p>

"Did you find him?" she asked as he took his seat.

"Yeah. I think the prick's learnt his lesson; I gave him a few of my best hexes. Looked like he was going to wet himself at one point."

"Hexes? You _duelled_?"

"Oh yes. I don't think anyone will be seeing Foster around for a while," he answered darkly.

"What? Oh Merlin, what did you do to him?" she asked, chewing on her nails anxiously.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "It's not like I killed him or anything, Rose. He was just talking so scornfully and I couldn't resist whipping my wand out, and then we duelled. I was able to dodge most of his spells but the Knee-Reversal hex got me unfortunately. Managed to fix it soon enough, though."

"Oh good, so it wasn't a serious duel then?"

Scorpius frowned. "It was an extremely serious duel! There were onlookers cheering us on and everything. Mostly second years, but still. You should've been there. He had to go to hospital wing thanks to my crafty wand work."

"He's okay though, isn't he?"

Scorpius nodded, albeit reluctantly. "He definitely got the message not to mess with you though, so I wouldn't worry about him hurting you again."

"Thank you, Scorp, I appreciate it," Rose beamed at him to which he smiled back warmly, melting her insides like Chocolate Frogs in summer.

They sat in a companionable silence for a while. Rose was bursting to ask about the Malfoys but she didn't want to suddenly spring it on him.

She swallowed and mentioned casually, "so I went to see Hagrid earlier."

"Yeah?"

"He told me about your," she looked up to meet his gaze unsurely, "family problems."

Scorpius's eyes widened. "He – he what? Hagrid has no right telling you my business!"

"No, no, he didn't actually –"

"Bloody hell, you can't trust anyone around here. Not even the kindly old groundskeeper can keep his trap shut!"

"No, listen –" she tried again.

"That's the last time I go bleeding my bloody heart out to that old oaf –"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Rose finally bellowed. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "And don't call Hagrid an oaf!"

Scorpius crossed his arms. "I'm listening."

"Apologize for calling Hagrid an oaf first."

Now it was Scorpius's turn to roll his eyes. "Hagrid, wherever you are, I am ever so sorry for calling you an oaf. I didn't mean it."

Rose nodded, satisfied. "Okay, so he let slip that you have family problems – that was it. He never said what's actually up."

She waited for him to talk but he remained silent.

"Well?"

"What, you expect me to open up and give you every little detail of my life, like you're my diary or something?" he muttered scathingly.

"No. I'm just a little upset that you didn't trust me enough to tell me what's going on, and the fact that you chose to go to Hagrid instead of me."

"I just needed to get everything out of my system, and Hagrid seemed the best place to go to at the time," he muttered guiltily. She tried to search his eyes for an answer, a flicker of emotion, but he refused to meet her gaze.

"Scorp?" she nudged his arm. "You know you can tell me anything. But if you really don't want to tell me, then I understand…"

He sighed heavily. "I trust you completely, of course I do."

"Then why didn't you want to tell me what was going on? I thought we were best friends."

"We _are_. And we were. I wanted to tell you, really I did, but I was so confused and angry that you were going out with someone else. I was jealous," he admitted grudgingly. "I do actually wish I'd told you, though, it would've made things a lot easier. I should've trusted you. I'm sorry. So… there it is."

"I understand. But we've agreed to be honest with each other from here on out, right?" she asked.

Scorpius nodded fervently in agreement. "Okay, so the truth is… it happened on the day before the Hogsmeade trip. You know, the one where you went with Foster?" Rose nodded slowly. That was the day she'd bought Scorpius the Snitch ink pot, when he had red rings around his eyes…

"Well, I was away from school in the morning, at St Mungo's," he continued, scratching the back of his neck. "I was confused and angry and stuff, and I don't know, I just thought since you had Foster, you wouldn't care what happened to me."

"You were at the hospital?" she frowned, placing a hand on his arm.

Dear Merlin. What if his parents… Rose couldn't believe she hadn't been there for him when he needed her.

"Yeah." Scorpius lowered his head and looked grave. "The day before, I was sent to the Headmistress's office. My parents were there – they had some news for me."

Rose was getting confused with the change of topics, but went with it anyway.

"Oh, what kind of news?"

"Bad news."

Scorpius shut his eyes. Rose instantly moved closer to put her arm around his shoulders. "What happened, Scorp?"

After a while he opened his eyes again and stared intensely into her cerulean ones. "It's my grandfather. He got diagnosed with dragon pox the weekend I was in the hospital wing after the Quidditch incident."

Rose gasped. "Oh, Merlin! I am so, so sorry," she whispered. Sure, Lucius Malfoy had never been the best of buddies with her own family, but he meant enough to Scorpius for his illness to cause him pain. "There's a cure for it, isn't there?"

"Yeah, but the Healers say he's too far gone and his old age doesn't help. There's nothing they can do and it's slowly going to kill him. We weren't even allowed to see him because it's so contagious; we had to speak behind a curtain. He's only seventy. My grandma's going to be all alone- he's her world." There was no emotion in his voice as he spoke- he talked in a monotone.

Rose bit her lip and rested her head on his shoulder. She remembered visiting Malfoy Manor when she was younger and observing how absolutely in love the Malfoys were even after all these years, despite the struggles they'd been through. "I didn't know you were close to your grandfather."

"We're not – um, I mean, we weren't that close. But he used to be my hero when I was little." He cleared his throat before continuing. "We had an argument over the summer. It was about you actually, Al too; he still hates your family's guts and thinks I'm far too superior to be friends with you." Rose rolled her eyes. "Naturally I yelled and I shouted and I treated him so badly… I had no idea he was so ill. And I'll never get the chance to talk to him alone and apologize." His pale eyes were full of remorse and his eyebrows knitted together.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You never asked."

They sat in silence for a while.

"My uncle died during the war. I never got to know him. Apparently he was really lively and fun, just like Uncle George. People have to move on and get on with their lives… but that doesn't mean you have to forget them."

Scorpius gave Rose a small smile. "That must be the corniest thing you've ever said."

"It's true though." She searched her bag for the pot of ink and found it at the bottom, wings fluttering madly. "Here, I bought this for you as a get-well-present when you got knocked out."

She placed it in his hands.

"Oh, thanks," he said, surprised, turning it over between his fingers. "You didn't have to."

Rose pouted. "You don't seem like you like it. I spent good money on that, you know."

"I've always wanted it, actually," he grinned. "Seriously, thanks! It's really cool."

He leaned in to kiss her lightly on the cheek, causing her to blush.

"Glad you like it," she smiled at him, keeping eye contact for a little longer than usual.

_Wow… I have really missed this guy_, she thought.

"Well," he announced, breaking the spell between them, "I guess we should really get on with our studying now."

"We should," she agreed. She straightened her notes but looked up at him once more. "Scorp?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad we're friends again."

He smiled at her warmly. "So am I."

Her insides felt so warm and contented, she held back the desire to giggle.

"But if we're ever going to become best friends again… you'll be required to take a little test to make sure you're suitable best friend material," she said a little playfully.

He cocked an eyebrow. "But I was obviously best friend material before, and I'm still the same now."

"Ah, I'm not so sure. Scarlett may have corrupted you," she said lightly, faking concern. "I want to see if you're still eligible to be my closest companion."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it. But what if I fail?"

"Then you'll be cut out of my life forever," she said simply.

"I'll ace it," he shrugged, cool and composed, although he was fiddling with his hair on the back of his head a little nervously.

"I'll ask you five questions, and you have to get at least five right to pass."

"Um, okay. No pressure, then. Shoot."

"What's my favourite colour?"

He leaned back in chair, stretching his arms back behind his head with a smug expression on his face. "Purple and dark green are your joint favourites."

"Correct. Favourite cereal?"

"Changes a lot, but at the moment it's… Pixie Puffs?"

"Correct. Favourite band?"

"The Golden Quills."

"Correct. Middle name?"

"Lavender."

"Correct. Last question; this one could make it or break it. Don't mess this up, Malfoy," she warned.

He took a deep breath and screwed his face up in concentration as he waited for the final question.

"Who is the cleverest, wittiest, prettiest, funniest, most amiable person in this entire school?"

"Oh, this one's easy: you," he winked.

"Yeah! I knew you could do it. You're officially my best friend. Again. Congratulations!"

"Wahey!" he grinned triumphantly. "What shall we do now, best friend?"

"Er, study for our NEWTs?" she offered.

"Sounds good," he agreed, jumping into his revision immediately.

Rose truly was glad they were friends again. It felt as though a stolen prized possession she once thought would be lost forever had been returned to her. However, she couldn't help but think it would take a little more than a friendship quiz to rebuild the level of trust and honesty with him that she so badly craved.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Wow, quite a lot happened in this chapter. And it was a super long one, for me – hopefully I haven't bored you all to tears. Tell me what you thought :D


	17. Change

**Chapter 17 ****-**Change

The weather was consistently wonderful and Hogwarts, quite miraculously, hadn't seen rain for weeks. Rose and Scorpius quickly set up a routine of meeting by the largest beech tree by the lake at eleven in the morning every weekend to study, but mostly just to spend lost time together.

Rose was leaning back against the tree with the sun warming her legs while Scorpius was stretched out, boldly resting his head on her lap. After deciding her brain might just detonate with anymore revision, she unceremoniously tossed her pile of notes onto the grass and said, "test me."

"What does the spell _Incendio_do?" questioned Scorpius, holding his own sheet of notes high above his head to block out the sun.

"Sets the target object on fire," she replied confidently.

"Correct. The effects of _Sonorus _is reversed using what spell?"

"Easy, _Quietos_."

"Nope," he said with a smirk. "Wrong!"

"What? What's the answer, then?"

"Quiet_us_."

"Oh, come _on_," she whined. "That's what I said!"

"Nope, you pronounced it wrong. No marks for you."

"Oh, you're horrid," she grumbled, shoving his head off of her lap. "I would've spelt it right in the exam."

"Oi! I was comfy there." He sat up and turned to look at her adorably, pouting.

"Too bad," she dismissed. "You no longer deserve to have the luxury of my lap to lie on." He continued to pout.

Her eyes fluttered shut as a light breeze blew gently on her face.

The peaceful moment was spoiled when a warm pair of hands suddenly grabbed either side of her waist and she let out a high-pitched shriek, eyes popping out of their sockets in the process. "What are you doing?" She glanced down at his hands gripping onto her and gulped, feeling her face heat up.

This was appropriate behaviour between two close friends… right? The butterflies in her stomach begged to disagree.

His eyes were glinting mischievously. "If you're not going to willingly let me have the luxury of your lap, I'll have to force it out of you."

"Uh oh," she squeaked as he sprang on her and she was assaulted with tickles all over her stomach. She found it annoying how he was always the one with the upper hand. Being ridiculously ticklish wasn't so fun, either.

"What's wrong?" he asked with fake innocence while she was squealing with laughter. "Cat got your tongue?"

"N – no!" she wheezed.

"Well then, I guess you won't mind me doing this." He swiftly yanked off her ballet flats and attacked her feet with his fingers. Rose was wriggling around so much she thought she might wet herself.

"FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN! St-stop! PLEASE!"

But Scorpius wasn't even listening anymore. Absentmindedly, his fingers continued tickling her feet while he stared off into the distance and his eyes seemed to light up with an idea. She could almost see the Muggle light bulb illuminating above his head.

"Sc – Scorp?" she gasped while cackling uncontrollably, face contorting in pain. "SCORP? SCORPIUS HY - HYPERION M - MALFOY?"

"Yeah?" he muttered, returning out of his reverie to look at her.

"STOP TICKLING ME!"

"Oh, sure," he said, putting his hands on his lap.

Rose slumped back against the tree to try to regain her breath, clutching her aching stomach. "Laughing hurts."

"Rose, you know what I said the other day, about how the problem is that I don't want anyone hurt, or to let them down?"

She nodded slowly, feeling a little confused by the sudden change in topic.

"Well, I've decided that it's not working."

"I'm confused. What's not working?" she asked, sitting up straighter.

"Trying to please everyone all the time – it doesn't work. I think I should just be honest instead," he confessed.

Rose was still trying to get her head around what he was saying, but replied with, "honesty sounds good."

"Okay. So, I was gonna wait till after the exams were over, but… watch this."

He arose from where he was sitting, cleared his throat and began walking away from her.

She watched as he passed a bunch of fourth years splayed on the grass reading Witch Weekly, a group of first years sitting in a circle playing _Diricawl, Diricawl,_ _Phoenix_ until he finally reached the sixth year Slytherin girls where Rose spotted Scarlett for the first time, her hair looking slightly golden in the sun. Was he going to…? She didn't dare let herself believe it. Scorpius hesitated for a few seconds and turned back around to look at Rose who smiled at him brightly. He smiled back before tapping Scarlett on the shoulder and pulling her a little way off from her friends.

Rose delved into her bag and quickly dug out a pair of Extendable Ears she liked to carry around with her for moments like this (Fred had given them to her last Christmas). She stood up and threw them as far as she could, and they landed just a little way off from Scorpius and Scarlett. After cranking up the volume, she could just about make out their voices.

"Scar, you know I really care about you," Scorpius began, his voice calm.

"I know you do, Scorpy," Scarlett beamed, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "I love you."

Scorpius flinched involuntarily. "No, not like that. You see… you're a nice girl, but I care about you more like a brother would to their little sister," he admitted gently. "D'you get what I'm trying to say?"

Her smile dropped instantly and she simply stated, "You're breaking up with me."

He put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. "Let's stay friends, yeah?" he asked unsurely.

She decided to switch on her famous waterworks.

"I can't believe it." A tear slipped down her face, which led to another, and another, and suddenly they were gushing out of her eyes like a toilet being flushed. "After everything… I wondered why you'd never return the 'I love you's. I thought you were just waiting for the right moment, but no, of course not…" Her head snapped up to look him in the eyes. "You really don't love me?"

Scorpius shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Scarlett."

Her bottom lip was quivering and she looked so vulnerable and weak; Rose couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the poor girl.

"WHY DOES NO ONE LOVE ME?" she shrieked, pulling at the roots of her dark hair. Scorpius took a step back in alarm. Rose flinched and turned the volume down before the high decibel levels caused her to go deaf. "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY RELATIONSHIPS HAS ENDED LIKE THIS. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?"

She was attracting a few weird looks, to say the least.

"It's not you, Scarlett, I promise," he replied hastily. "You're – you're wonderful; really lovely. We're just not right for each other. I'm really sorry."

Her chest was heaving up and down and she looked fit for murder. Scorpius gave her one last brief squeeze of the shoulder and strolled away, back to Rose. She ravelled up the Extendable Ears and stuffed them into her bag.

"Was that okay?" Scorpius asked anxiously, plonking himself down next to her.

"Well," she answered, smiling, "you're certainly better at handling break-ups than I am." She scooted over to him and leant her head on his shoulder. "You did the right thing."

"I think so, too." He took the opportunity to arrange his head back on Rose's lap again. She rolled her eyes but didn't do anything; she didn't have the energy for another tickle attack. Plus, it felt kind of… _nice_.

Ahem.

"So how do you like it so far, being a singleton?" she teased.

"Not bad actually," he smiled as he looked up cheerfully to the sky. "I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I should've done that _ages_ago."

"Yup. I can see how Scary Scarlett isn't exactly, what's the word - _ideal _girlfriend material."

His gaze flickered up to hers. She looked down at him and grinned, playing with his soft blonde hair. "Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"I… really like spending time with you," he said in a slightly bashful tone. "Just thought I'd say."

A warm sensation filled her up till her insides felt all gooey. She didn't know what to say, but continued fiddling with his hair and staring at his contemplative, musing face. She wondered what he was thinking.

"Well, isn't this a cosy little scene!" spat Scarlett, marching up to them with her hands on her hips. The sudden interruption made Rose's heart do a back flip. She had guessed Scarlett would run into the castle to cry in the comfort of her own dormitory or something. Apparently not – that girl sure did like her drama.

Apart from the few telling smears of makeup on her face, you wouldn't have known she'd been crying her heart out only a few minutes earlier.

"You were planning to break up with me for her all along, weren't you, Scorpius?" Scarlett hissed, her dark eyes seething with red-hot fury and her whole body quivering with intense hatred. It was a side of her that Rose had never witnessed in this scale before; it was both intriguing and slightly frightening. She'd lost her bubbly, overly-excited exterior. "You used me like you used Poppy. How _sickening_."

She took a fierce step forwards and stomped on a branch. The_ snap_noise seemed to resonate around them.

Scorpius sat up straight and looked at her pleadingly. "Please, Scar. It's not like that."

"And _you_!" She pointed an accusing finger at Rose. "You're just a nasty little harlot. I always had my suspicions but decided to ignore the rumours about you." _Er, what rumours?_ "Just goes to show what different kinds of people we are." _Yeah, one of us can actually keep our moods under control, you stupid cow. _

"Shut up, Scarlett," Scorpius warned, standing up.

"What're you going to do, Scorpy?" she snarled, flinging her arms in the air. "Rip my heart out and stamp all over it? Oh wait, YOU'VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT."

"Scarlett, I think you should go," Rose said firmly with an air of _I can't be bothered with you_about her.

"Oh, yes, I'm leaving. I don't want to look at either of your foul faces for another minute. You know what, you deserve each other! I never want to see either of you again for the rest of my life, so stay away from me or else. Take my word for it; you will rue this day!"

And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed back to her friends, who sent dangers at Rose and Scorpius. They were no doubt exchanging scandalous rumours about her, but she couldn't care less. Okay, maybe a little if they were going to be spread around school, but at that moment she didn't give a Hippogriff's dung. She was with Scorpius, and she knew for a fact that he didn't judge her based off of silly gossip. He liked her for who she was, thank you very much.

"Well that was… interesting," he remarked.

"That's one way of putting it. Has a bit of a flair for the dramatics, that one." Scorpius murmured in agreement. "You don't think she's going to get revenge or anything, do you? She looked like she wanted to rip my head off just then."

"Nah, I think she's let it all out of her system now. And if she does, well, we can handle it." He sorted out his Charms notes and passed them to Rose. "Your turn to test me."

* * *

><p>"I'm really sorry, Lara, but could I borrow Al for a minute?" Rose asked politely, smiling at the brunette who was currently sitting beside him eating dinner.<p>

Unfortunately Rose had picked a bad moment to approach them, as Lara's mouth was half-full of cereal.

"Oh – uh – sure," she spluttered, spraying Rose with milk. She turned a delicate shade of pink and closed her eyes in embarrassment. "Ugh, I'm so sorry…"

"It's no problem," Rose replied, half amused, half grossed out.

"I was just about to go to the library, anyway," she said quickly, standing up and swinging her bag over her shoulder.

She gave a little embarrassed wave to Al and Rose and speed walked out of the Great Hall. After wiping herself off, Rose dragged Al up from the bench.

"Er, Rose?" he asked as he was dragged by the shirt collar alongside the Slytherin table. "Where in the name of Salazar are we going?"

They came to a halt beside Scorpius.

"Here," she declared.

He mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

"Er, hey," Scorpius tried through a mouthful of mashed potato. He stood up to face them.

"Hey," Rose replied, elbowing Al in the gut till he muttered a half-hearted greeting.

"Scorpius wants to tell you something, don't you, Scorp?"

"Yeah… look, mate, I'm sorry. I knew you liked Bell, but I – and I swear this is the truth – I didn't want to hurt her by dumping her so soon. You know how delicate she is. I realise now that I was stupid and you're now completely free to have her, if you want. Although, I've noticed you're with that small pretty brunette a lot nowadays," he said, raising his eyebrows, impressed. "Way to go, man."

After a moment's consideration, Al stepped forwards and engulfed Scorpius into a very manly hug, thumping him roughly on the back. "I missed you, dude."

"You too, man," Scorpius replied, giving Al one last thump before taking a large step back.

"Does this mean you're friends again?" Rose grinned.

They exchanged a look before nodding.

She squealed happily and threw her arms around them both. "I love you guys."

"You too," Al grumbled, loosening her tight hold around his neck.

"You too," Scorpius grinned.

Before she could even acknowledge what he had just said or go over what it meant, etcetera etcetera, a tap on the shoulder made her whirl around and let go of the boys. Fabian was stood before her, looking very nervous. As soon as she realised who it was her face dropped considerably. "Hi, Rose. Can I speak with you a second?"

"Whatever you want to say can be said in front of us, too," commanded Scorpius, crossing his arms and instantly narrowing his eyes.

"No, it's okay. I can handle this."

Scorpius nodded but kept an eye on them as they walked away.

"So, what do you want?" Rose asked coolly, stopping by the doorway to look at him and crossing her arms over her chest. He licked his lips before speaking.

"First off, I'm so sorry I made you cry," he began gently. "I can't stand watching girls cry, it was horrible. I made a promise to myself never to do it again."

He paused and she gestured for him to continue, looking bored.

"I just didn't want to leave our last conversation as the end of, well, _us_, you know?" Fabian said, patches of red colouring his cheeks. "What I did was wrong, and I'm sorry, and I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore. But I want us to be friends. Or not enemies, at least. Do you think we could put everything behind us and try that?" His big brown eyes were shining with hope.

She briefly considered this. Who actually stays friends with their exes? She didn't know anyone who did. Dom never spoke to hers again. That was just Dom, though; maybe it was different for other people…

"So, what do you say?" He was tripping over his words and fumbling with the sleeve of his jumper. Rose took pity on him and offered him a small smile while she mulled things over.

In the end she agreed to stay friends, knowing that they'd only really see each other in Muggle Studies and even then they didn't have to speak too much. Besides, it would be easier than blatantly ignoring him and make things less awkward between them.

"Great!" he said, looking genuinely pleased like he could finally breathe again. He must've been holding his breath for a while. "I'm really glad you're not angry at me, Rose; I never meant to hurt you and I've learnt from my mistake."

"I'm glad to hear it," she nodded before walking back over to Scorpius and Al in good spirits.

"Wait!" he called and she turned back to him with confusion etched on her face. "There was something else I wanted to ask you."

And just like that he was nervous again, flattening his hair down.

"There's a reason I kissed Lizzie in the kitchens," he said almost shyly. "I… I really like her."

If any other boy was saying this about her best friend, Rose would've burst out with a huge 'awww'. Instead, she felt an uncomfortable squirming in the pit of her stomach.

"I was wondering whether you think I should go ahead and ask her out?" he said eagerly, voice squeaking at the end. "Does she like me? Ever talk about me or anything?"

She stared blankly at him. When she didn't reply he added, "I also want your permission. I mean, she is your best friend and, er," he looked down at his shoes, "you told me to stay away from all those associated with you, if I remember correctly."

She rubbed at her forehead where an ache was forming.

"I'll allow you to ask her out under three conditions. One: don't cheat on her. Ever. That means kissing her, and only her." She looked at Fabian meaningfully. "Two: treat her like she's the best damn thing to ever walk the earth. Lizzie Martin is a very special girl. And three: DON'T HURT HER LIKE YOU HURT ME, or I'll get my Auror father on you. Got it?"

Fabian nodded once.

"And to make sure, let's make an Unbreakable Vow on it," she said eagerly.

His jaw dropped.

"A – an Unbreakable Vow?" he repeated. "As in, I'll die if I break the oath? Are you serious?"

She nodded. "Completely."

He cleared his throat and said, "Well, if that's what it takes…"

She smiled happily and guided him over to Scorpius and Al who, instead of catching up with each other, were stuffing their faces in a contented silence (not counting the slurping and gurgling noises). She noticed Fabian stiffen from beside her. Probably something to do with how the last time he encountered Scorpius, he ended up in the Hospital Wing.

"Can one of you Bond us for an Unforgivable Vow, please?" she asked casually as if no lives were at stake. "It's just so that he doesn't hurt Lizzie – he wants to ask her out," she added at the puzzled expressions on their faces.

"I'll do it," offered Scorpius, no questions asked, jumping up from the bench.

"What, we're doing it right here, right now?" Fabian piped up anxiously.

"What's wrong? Do you not want to do it?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no, of course I do," he answered immediately. "Let's get it over with."

Rose grabbed his wrist and he held on to hers. She looked up at Scorpius who nodded and gingerly placed his wand on their interlocked hands.

"I think you're meant to give me the terms of the Vow now, Rose," said Fabian after a short pause. He'd gone a little pale but was holding on to her wrist firmly.

"You're really serious about treating Lizzie well, aren't you?" she said to which he nodded zealously.

That was all she needed to know. She pulled back her arm and let it fall to her side.

"You passed," she grinned, patting him on the shoulder. "I give you permission to ask Lizzie out."

"What? But… the Unbreakable Vow…?"

"You were genuinely going to go through with it, and that's enough for me."

Slowly, a grin crept up Fabian's face. "Thank you."

"Okay, well I think you're done here," Scorpius cut through, looking at him pointedly. Fabian took the hint and waved to Rose vigorously before leaving the hall.

"Don't forget what he did, Rose," warned Scorpius softly as they sat back down on the bench. "It's like you've forgiven him, just like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

Rose laughed lightly. "Don't worry. I may forgive, but I don't forget. And please, never snap your fingers like that again."

She saw him smirking from the corner of her eye. "No promises."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And there we have chapter 17, finally with a bit of Scorose action… kind of ^^ Scorpius and Scarlett are no longer together! Al and Scorp are friends again! Fabian is hoping to ask Lizzie out! I'm pretty happy with this chapter, it was a nice break for me from exam revision and such (procrastination ftw!) Hope you enjoyed it too :)


	18. Failure

**Chapter 18- Failure **

The final Quidditch match of the year arrived a mere week before the seventh years would be taking their NEWTs. The Hogwarts student body was cheering in delight as the Slytherin and Hufflepuff team members zoomed onto the pitch whilst being introduced by the commentator, third year Hufflepuff Chrissie Creevey.

"Look! There's Hayley!" said Lizzie enthusiastically, pointing to the general direction of where her cousin was hovering in the air, waving shyly at the crowd. She was playing the position of Seeker against -

"Scorpius! Look, he's there!" she said just as enthusiastically. He was much more confident than Hayley, grinning assuredly at the crowd.

"How are things going with him, by the way?" Dom asked Rose from her other side.

"Yeah, any secret snogging sessions we should know about?" Lizzie said, smiling.

"Of course not," Rose snapped uncomfortably, colour rising predictably in her cheeks. They kept randomly bringing him up in conversation and it was starting to get on her nerves. "I just hope he survives this match, after what happened last time. So do you still like Al, Lizzie?" she asked, attempting to divert the attention away from herself.

"Oh, he's nice, but I got over him ages ago," she replied distractedly, as the whistle was blown and the players began to glide through the air at alarming speeds on their fancy state-of-the-art broomsticks.

"Thought so. So, uh, has Fabian asked you out yet?" she asked casually.

Lizzie's head snapped over to stare at Rose in alarm. "Wh- what – how did you –"

"Well has he or not?" Dom demanded.

"Y- yeah, he did. A few days ago. I said no to him, obviously."

"What? Why?" Rose cried.

"Because you're my best friend and you're more important, of course," Lizzie answered like it was obvious. "I do actually value our friendship, you know."

"No! You don't have to do that for me, Lizzie. If you like him… well, by all means, go for it."

Lizzie was stunned. "You'd be okay with me and Fabian, um, going out?"

"Sure I would," Rose replied. Lizzie raised both eyebrows, making her brown eyes appear even larger than usual. "He's nice, you're nice; I don't know why I never saw this coming earlier, to be honest. He really cares about you. I can see that much."

Lizzie smiled to herself. "Wouldn't it be a bit weird, though? He's my best friend's ex… I think there's some kind of unwritten rule about that."

Dom nodded in agreement. "Your friendship may never be the same again," she stated solemnly.

Rose couldn't help but laugh and assured her, "Don't worry about it! It's totally fine. You have my, er, blessing. It's not like you're getting _married _or anything."

She raised an eyebrow as Lizzie blushed. "What?" Rose continued. "Please don't tell me you're going to run off with him to Las Vegas straight after our NEWTs to get eloped."

"No, of course not, it's just; I had this dream the other night…"

"Okay, this is where I draw the line," Rose said, amused, "I'm not discussing how _dreamy_Fabian is with you."

"But he's so _fine_," Lizzie giggled. "How can you not help but admire his –"

"Time for you to leave," said Rose, and she pushed Lizzie off her seat. "Go tell Fabian you want to bear his babies or something."

"Too far, Rose, too far," Lizzie muttered as she picked up her cardigan and left the Gryffindor stands in search of a certain Ravenclaw boy.

Rose turned her attention back to the game and watched Scorpius zoom lazily around the pitch in search of the Snitch, hardly trying. He obviously held no belief that Hayley would ever find it before him, as did around 99.97% of the spectators. Hufflepuff hadn't won a Quidditch match since 2014 and that trend wasn't likely to break anytime soon.

"Give me your hand," Dom ordered after a while, evidently growing bored of the slow moving match, and began painting Rose's nails with a clear sparkly polish. Slytherin was scoring Quaffle after Quaffle through the hoops and it looked as if the Fates were once again not in favour of the Hufflepuffs.

Rose zoned out. It was all getting a bit tedious. Couldn't he just catch the damn Snitch already and spare the poor Hufflepuffs some dignity?

"Wait, what's this – Hufflepuff Seeker Hayley Martin has spotted the Snitch! She lunges towards it – Malfoy has now spotted it as well and he's after her like a rocket – they're so close – but it's too late; MARTIN'S GOT THE SNITCH! HUFFLEPUFF WIN THE MATCH, 150 to 120!"

For a second or two the crowd was deafeningly silent as they comprehended the sudden turn of events, but then there came a thunderous applause and roars of praise, as well as roars of rage from the Slytherins.

"Oh, what happened?" Dom enquired as she finally looked up at the pitch, sounding only half interested.

"Hufflepuff beat Slytherin," Rose muttered, still disbelieving of the information her own eyes had just sent to her brain.

Dom raised a perfect blonde brow and smirked. "Seriously? That's hilarious."

Scorpius was still hovering in mid-air, staring vacantly at the spot where Hayley had caught the Snitch.

* * *

><p>Al and Scorpius plonked themselves down on the bench next to the girls at dinner that evening.<p>

"What are you losers doing at the Gryffindor table?" asked Dom with a smirk. "Has your own house disowned you for being such a failure?"

"No," Scorpius answered quickly. _Too_quickly. Red patches appeared on his cheeks, which Rose thought was absolutely adorable.

"Aw, you poor neglected soul. I guess my cousin's just too skilled for you. How can you bear to show your face after that humiliating fiasco?" said Lizzie, unsuccessfully masking her laughter. He threw a grape at her forehead to shut her up.

"Everyone on our table's shooting daggers at Scorp," Al explained. "We decided to leave before things got… physical."

"It must suck to be a has-been," Dom added musingly.

"Are you not man enough to handle some fisticuffs?"

"They're being mean to me! Make them stop!" Scorpius whined in a childish voice across the table to Rose, who had been quietly observing her friends with an amused expression on her face. "I've already been told I'm a huge let-down by my captain, as well as Scarlett almost hexing me since she swears I mucked up on purpose. I don't need to hear it again."

"But Scorpius," Rose said, "you got your arse kicked by a bunch of _Hufflepuffs_."

He pouted as everyone burst out laughing. "Gee, thanks, Rose. You're meant to be my friend."

"And you're meant to be the sensational Slytherin seeker. What happened?"

"I was hardly trying; I didn't realise she could fly so fast! Thought it'd be a walk in the park." He lowered his head morosely.

"Moral of the story: never underestimate a Hufflepuff," Lizzie chuckled.

Scorpius leaned down to whisper in Rose's ear, covering up by reaching for the jug of pumpkin juice.

"You're going to pay for not sticking up for me, Weasley."

"Whatever," she whispered back, trying to ignore the tingle zipping down her spine.

He just smiled smugly, pouring himself a drink.

"So what are the final rankings?" Lizzie asked eagerly.

Reaching out to grab the fruit bowl, Scorpius said, "Gryffindor won overall, Slytherin in second place, Hufflepuff in third and Ravenclaw last. They would've come last if they hadn't won today's match. It didn't even affect Slytherin's ranking anyway." His arm grazed Rose's ever so slightly as he brought it back to his side, causing her to catch her breath in shock. She turned to give him a questioning look but he was munching an apple, eyes all wide and innocent.

"Yeah, go lions! I knew we'd do it! Third year in a row," Lizzie grinned.

Al rolled his eyes and said, "Don't look so smug, we'll get you next ye –" His voice droned out towards the end as his face dawned with realisation.

"We won't be here next year, Al."

"God, yeah. I forgot." After a short pause, he continued, "we have exams that will determine how well we do in later life in just one week's time."

"You only just realised?" scoffed Scorpius. Suddenly he brushed his leg into Rose's, and she almost choked on her pie, letting out a conspicuous giggle-squeak.

Scooting a safe distance away, she asked in a higher-pitched voice, "haven't you been revising, Al? These exams are really important."

"Don't worry, _Professor_,I've done a bit." She rolled her eyes. "But not all of us like to waste our time sat in front of a textbook all day."

"Hey," she said defensively in response to his pointed look her way, "I just really don't want an Exceeds Expectations, alright? They're like a stain on the results sheet."

He stared at her with his mouth hung open attractively.

"Have you been Confounded or something? I'd _love _to get an E!"

"E's are really good," she quickly agreed. "I'd just be so chuffed with all O's."

Dom snorted. "I'd be chuffed with all A's."

"It's only just hit me, though," Al said pensively after a few seconds. "We're leaving Hogwarts soon, forever."

Rose almost spat out the contents of her mouth when, without moving any closer to her, Scorpius linked his left ankle around hers. "Aw, I'm gonna miss you guys. Even if you are a bunch of meanies."

"What are you doing?" she hissed, looking down at her foot (which was now being molested by Scorpius's), feeling rather confused by his actions; she didn't have a clue what he was up to but for some unfathomable reason she didn't move away. She was hyper-aware of every little movement, like how his foot was subtly moving further up her leg…

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, glinting eyes saying quite the opposite.

"You are enjoying this far too much," she stated, tentative.

"Yes, yes I am," he smiled pleasantly.

"This is harassment."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

He smirked and kicked her foot lightly with his own. "You love it."

"Um, guys?" Dom interrupted. "It's kind of rude to have a private conversation when there are five of us present."

"Honestly, you can't get any privacy around here," muttered Scorpius, scooting further away from Rose again.

She let out a long, slightly shaky breath of relief. As embarrassing as it was to admit, her lungs seemed to suffer from air deficiency whenever he got too close and she felt all hot and bothered.

"This is where it gets serious," Lizzie stated solemnly. "Quidditch season is over, and the only obstacle in our way to graduating is NEWTs. If we want good grades for a bright future, we're gonna have to work really hard in this coming week."

"Oh bollocks," Al muttered, mostly to himself. None of them looked too happy at the thought of working 'really hard'.

"Yeah," Rose finally agreed. "We should meet up in the library every day at, let's say, 5pm, and revise till dinner. How does that sound?"

There was a murmur of agreement.

"Okay, good. This is gonna be fun," she grumbled. Although she was probably the most hard-working of the group, Rose also found relaxing in the sun with friends much more appealing than spending hours on end with her head stuck in a potions textbook.

A warm, comforting arm snuck around her waist. "Cheer up, Rose," Scorpius uttered into her ear. "I'm here to brighten up your dreary days of potions revision."

Instead of flinching or shaking his arm off her, she turned her head to smile up at him gratefully. In all honesty, her days really had become brighter since they'd become friends again.

* * *

><p>It was Sunday night on the last day of May, a day before NEWTs began.<p>

Rose was in her bed with the curtains closed around her, heart pumping blood abnormally fast around her body considering she had been lying completely still for the past twenty minutes. She just couldn't calm her mind, overflowing with frightening thoughts like '_I'm going to forget everything I've ever learnt'_ and '_I'm going to let everyone down'_, but most importantly _'Scorpius will beat me in every subject'. _She'd never live that one down.

She knew she was expected to get all O's, but maybe a few E's if she was having a bad day, like she did for her OWLs. But even then she'd had to work relentlessly, and everyone knew NEWTs were ten times harder than OWLs. Not to mention ten times more important.

She breathed deeply and rocked herself in a ball, cuddling Georgie the Pygmy Puff close to her chest. The purring vibrated against her heart and somehow managed to calm her nerves slightly.

She knew she needed sleep or else she wouldn't be able to concentrate in the exams.

Praying to Merlin she wouldn't have a nightmare of some giant rubber duck grading all her papers as 'Troll', she eventually sunk into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

><p>"Don't look at me, I'm hideous," moaned Dom as she checked her reflection in the back of a spoon at breakfast. "My face is breaking out."<p>

"Me too," sighed Rose as she licked her spoon free of milk and cereal and used it to scrutinize her face. "Just my luck, I've got a huge zit on the tip of my nose. I'll call it… Herbert."

"This one here," Dom said, pointing to a large spot on her chin, "is called La Dame Blanche."

"Okay… that's even weirder than Herbert."

"It's French for 'the white lady' – the highest mountain in France, scarily similar in size to the spot on my chin," Dom clarified. She was met with a baffled look from Rose, and shrugged.

"My face is pretty clear," said Lizzie, "which is ironic since I'm usually the spottiest out of us all. Ah, the joys of exam stress."

"Shut up," muttered Dom, covering her chin with her hand. "I'll have to owl Uncle George about sending me some new WonderWitch products that actually work."

"Speaking of owls, here they come now."

Rose was delighted to see her family owl, Mad-eye, land gracefully in front of her, steering clear of her breakfast. He was a lovely little owl and Rose stroked the side of his face affectionately, just below his twitching eye. Rose was afraid of him when they first bought him as she thought his convulsing eye meant he had rabies or something, but she'd grown used to it and now found him adorable. The poor thing would've been perched in the corner of Magical Menagerie forever if they hadn't taken him home.

She fed him a piece of bread before reading her letter:

_Hi Rose,  
><em>_Good luck on your first exam today, love! You've worked hard for this so just take a deep breath and do your best. I_ _know you'll do brilliantly- you always do. I'm so proud of you._

_Write back once they're over to tell me how they go. I know you won't let your father and I down.  
>Lots of love, Mum <em>

Rose smiled happily and felt a new burst of confidence, as well as a little extra pressure, surge through her as she put the letter in her bag. Al came over not long after and passed her another letter.

"This is for you, it came with my owl," he shrugged.

She grinned as she recognised the familiar scruffy writing.

_Dear Rosie,  
>I sent this with Harry's owl since your mum had already sent Mad-eye off with her letter. She's been stressing out about your exams for weeks, but Merlin knows why. There's no need. Just relax - you're easily the cleverest in your year, and you know you can't disappoint me as long as you beat Scorpius. I haven't taken a single NEWT in my life and look at your old man now: a high-earning member of the Ministry. I know they're nastily exhausting and all but I hope you're not panicking as much as your mother, Rosie.<br>I love you so much,  
>Dad<br>p.s. I trust you're staying away from boys and concentrating on your studies._

Rose rolled her eyes with a smile as she read the last line; he had added that on the end of every single letter he'd sent to her since first year. According to her father, every one of her friends was female, even though Scorpius had visited their house multiple times with Al in the holidays.

"Can all fifth and seventh year students taking an examination this morning gather in the entrance hall immediately," Professor McGonagall called out, breaking Rose out of her happy shell.

"Oh Merlin," the three girls muttered in unison, sharing petrified looks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _...Dun dun dun!_

Out of curiosity, do you guys prefer longer chapters (4000+ words ;)) or shorter ones (2000 words)?  
>Anyways, hope you enjoyed it!<p> 


	19. Pressure

**Chapter 19- Pressure**

Rose followed her friends out of the hall, heart pumping a little quicker and legs feeling a little wobblier than before. Once in the noisy entrance hall, she went to each of her friends in turn and wished them good luck, even managing to catch Hugo's eye and give him a hopeful thumbs up, ending with Scorpius who gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.

"Good luck," she told him quietly, "but not _too_much luck. I can't have you doing better than me, now, can I?"

The Great Hall looked far more daunting and scary with the four house tables gone, about eighty single tables in their place. She followed the line to her table, all too aware of the annoying _clack _noise her shoes were making, and was pleased to see her name scrawled on a piece of parchment on the front of the desk. She could just imagine herself sitting at the wrong desk, doing the wrong paper getting all the answers wrong and ultimately failing her NEWTs.

_Deep breaths…_

"You may begin." The huge hour-glass at the front of the hall was turned over. Rose hastily dipped her quill in the ink bottle and flew through the exam. Unsurprisingly, she was one of those annoying swots that ask for extra paper ten minutes in, much to the chagrin of those around her.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week went by in much the same way. Rose was finding most of the exams alright, even the practicals (apart from one horrific incident involving the examiner's shoes and the giant dog she had somehow conjured. The task had been to turn a rat into a teacup).<p>

She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she found the Muggle Studies NEWT the hardest. With everyone telling her it would be the easiest and her dumbly believing it, Rose had revised for it the least, opting to revise for more challenging subjects instead. She regretted this choice when she turned over the exam paper on Wednesday morning and thought she may have been given the Ancient Runes paper by accident. Luckily she remembered what popcorn was, so she was at least guaranteed a few marks.

"Well I am absolutely fed up of exams," Lizzie announced tiredly late on Friday afternoon. "Anyone wanna join me on a short refreshing walk around school?"

There was a general murmur of "no, thanks". Rose was sprawled on her bed with her potions notes spread out in front of her. Dom was sat in front of the mirror with a beauty magazine on hand, trying out differently shaped eyebrows.

Rose sighed and forced herself up; the look on Lizzie's face could've melted an iceberg.

"Yay!" she sang, and grabbed Rose's wrist to tow her out of the stuffy dormitory before she could have second thoughts.

"So glad these stupid-but-super-important exams are nearly done with," Lizzie said, rubbing at her eyes. "Too stressful."

"I know. I could sleep for a thousand days."

"Only that? I could sleep for a thousand years."

"That's impossible. You won't live for a thousand years," Rose deadpanned.

"Well, it's impossible to sleep for a thousand days!" Lizzie countered. "Unless you're that Muggle Sleeping Beauty which, sadly, you are not."

"Are you calling me ugly?"

Lizzie sniggered. "Yeah."

"You bint."

They turned the corner and were presented with the oh-so-pleasant view of Abigail Millington and Elie Martin flirting audaciously with some Hufflepuff boy, annoying giggles and all. Did they really have nothing better to do with their time? Rose reckoned the poor boy looked kind of bored and uncomfortable.

"So subtle, aren't they," she muttered and Lizzie made a face in agreement as they walked by.

"What was that, Weasley?" Elie sneered, not missing a bit, and turned to glare at Rose with a hand on her hip. Abigail quickly followed suit.

"Just discussing with your sister here how you two are simply oozing with self-respect."

Elie sneered at them but Abigail looked plain confused, no doubt trying to work out whether she was kidding or not. "You're just jealous!" she eventually snapped, joining Elie in shooting her a menacing glare.

"Oh, totally. Who wouldn't want to be you?" Rose said, and Abigail raised her chin proudly and stood a little taller. Rose rolled her eyes.

"What happened to your anti-Hufflepuffs rules of dating, Ellie?" Lizzie chipped in. "I seem to recall you even made some kind of scrapbook about it. Or have you just become really desperate now?"

The boy looked a little bit annoyed and confused but Rose was proud of Lizzie for standing up to her sister, not to mention impressed.

Elie smiled cruelly. "Don't pretend you know me, Lizzie."

Lizzie and Rose rolled their eyes.

"I've always dated the Puffs," Elie continued. Lizzie raised her eyebrows at the 'endearing' usage of 'Puffs'. "You're just trying to stir up trouble, like the conniving little brat you've always been and always will be. Don't listen to her, Henry."

Rose struggled to keep in a laugh at the hypocrisy of it all.

"What, you mean that one time in fourth year when you dating Ricky Goodman for less than 24 hours before you were sober enough to realise he was a Hufflepuff?"

"He has a similar slightly better looking brother in Gryffindor, alright?" Elie grumbled at her sister.

The Hufflepuff named Henry was on the other side of the corridor before she got to finish her sentence. Elie noticed and went after him, yelling "wait up, Hen!" with Abigail hot on her heels.

Rose nudged Lizzie in the side with her elbow. "Good one! I'm proud of you. It can be hard to stand up to your family sometimes."

"Thanks," Lizzie grinned back a little bashfully. "I usually wouldn't condone such immature behaviour, of course, but y'know… I think she deserved it. Not to mention I'm so tired right now, I can't think straight."

"She's always deserved it," Rose muttered just as Abigail and Elie stormed back towards them, Abigail looking like someone stole her hairbrush and Elie looking fit for murder.

"Aw, he's not interested?" Rose pouted. "What a shame."

"We were just having some fun, Weasley. You should try it sometime."

They just stood there, having little glaring battles with each other once more, and Rose was rapidly growing bored of the whole situation.

Suddenly Elie chirped, "You must know exactly how we feel, all unwanted, what with Malfoy being with Scarlett and all."

She spoke innocently, as if she meant no harm by her words, and that made it all the more dangerous.

"Old news, Elie. They broke up a long while ago," said Lizzie. She seemed to be gaining more confidence in participating in arguments.

"Oh, you haven't heard? They've been seen together a _lot _recently – I've seen them myself, looking all cosy by the fire in the common room –"

She paused at Rose's confused expression and bit her lip. "Oh, that's right, you like Malfoy don't you? Woopsie, I guess I forgot."

She shared a satisfied look with Abigail.

"One- that's none of your business. And two- I don't believe you. Why should I?"

Elie shrugged complacently. "Fine. Don't take my word for it then. You'll see for yourself soon enough anyways."

A niggling part of Rose's brain was screaming insecure thoughts like 'would Scorpius do that? Again? After everything he's said?' Then she realised this was _Elie_she was speaking to, and the Niggler quickly shut up.

Elie linked arms with Abigail and waved a sarcastic goodbye at them.

"Where's Poppy, anyway?" Rose called, unable to resist getting the last word in. "Has she realised you're not worth the effort, too?"

They were met with the lovely view of two middle fingers before the owners of said fingers turned a corner out of sight.  
><em><br>Stupid Slytherins._

* * *

><p>Rose was hearing voices in her head.<p>

It was creeping her out big time. She had a flashback to when she was little and her mother was warning her that "hearing voices isn't a good thing, Rosie" and her father clarifying that "it means you're going coo-coo and must spend the rest of your days at St Mungo's".

Yep. She was heading straight for the loony bin.

"I'm so sorry," sobbed a familiar voice.

"You don't deserve this, Scarlett," said an even more familiar one.

Scorpius and Scarlett.

Having a non-hostile conversation together. With him comforting her.

On the plus side, Rose wasn't going mad after all.

She peaked through a gap in the stone wall and saw a snippet of the courtyard, with Scorpius and Scarlett on the bench directly in front of her, Scarlett snotting all over an uncomfortable-looking Scorpius' shoulder.

_What's going on?_

Rose wasn't sure whether she should leave and pretend she was never there, or ask him about it later, or just ask him about it right then and there… but she trusted him. He would never dream of doing anything as stupid as getting back with Scarlett. Would he? It sure wasn't helping her get over what Elie had said, though.

Gaining as much composure as she could, Rose entered the nearest archway into the courtyard and came to a halt in front of the bench occupied by her least favourite ex-couple.

Scorpius looked up at her, shocked. Scarlett didn't even bat an eyelid.

"What's up?" She looked at them both with curiosity. Perhaps she didn't want to know the answer…

"None of your business," Scarlett snapped.

"It's… it's private, Rose," Scorpius finally said.

Those words felt like a punch to the gut.

He must have seen the hurt in Rose's eyes because he added, "but we're all done here, aren't we, Scarlett?"

Without waiting for a response he jumped up next to Rose and tugged on her wrist. She could hear Scarlett bursting into a fresh wave of tears as they left.

"Thanks for saving me," he muttered weakly.

"What was that all about?" asked Rose. "I thought she hated your guts and 'never wants to see you again for the rest of my life, so stay away from me or else'. Oh, and something about ruing the day."

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "I s'pose she just really needed someone."

"Someone to what?" she asked, exasperated. She knew she was prying but felt she had a right to do so.

"I would tell you," he sighed, "but then I'm betting Scarlett would shoot you. Plus, it's… kinda confidential."

"Confidential?" she repeated, raising one eyebrow. "You're sounding like a Healer already."

He laughed loudly. "Anyway, enough about her. Do you want to go play Gobstones in the Slytherin common room? They're having some kind of tournament going on. I was watching it when Scarlett, er, said she wanted to speak to me."

Stuck in a darkened, chilly room with a load of Slytherins, just to watch (and possibly participate) in some stupid game, all whilst she should be revising for her potions exam the next day?

"Sounds good," she grinned up at him before leading the way to the dungeons.

She'd never lost a game of Gobstones in her life.

* * *

><p>She lost the Gobstones match and left the Slytherin dungeons in humiliation, drenched in a putrid green liquid.<p>

"Hard luck, Rose," Scorpius had said while he walked her up to her common room, patting her arm, although she couldn't miss the playful glint in his eyes. "Everyone loses a match every now and again, don't be hard on yourself."

His smile faltered slightly at her steely glare.

* * *

><p>Worrying about the potions exam kept her up most of Sunday night, resulting with Rose waking up late and being in a bad mood the following day. She stumbled down to breakfast with Dom and Lizzie staggering after her. The first thing her gloomy gaze fell on was the Slytherin table, which riled her up even more; with her hands planted sassily on her hips, she marched over to where two particular Slytherins were seated adjacently.<p>

"Good morning," she said, as icily as she could manage. (It was a bit too early in the morning for _too _much emotion.)

"Oh, hi, Rose," Scorpius greeted cheerfully.

Scarlett's eyebrows furrowed. She took the piece of professional-looking parchment from Scorpius's hands and got up from the bench. "I guess I'll speak to you later, then. Good luck with your exam."

Her voice was a monotone and her movements were lethargic, almost stoical. Entirely un-Scarlett-like.

"What's up with her?" Rose whispered as Scarlett shuffled away.

"She's not feeling very well," Scorpius replied quietly, anxiously watching her retreating figure.

"I see… so her not feeling well has made her forget all her grievances and suddenly have an insane desire to dine with you instead?"

"I don't know, I think she's fallen out with her friends or something. I suppose she's a bit desperate, so now she's resorted back to me. Anyhow, sit!" he suddenly said with a grin, gesturing for her to take Scarlett's vacated seat.

"You shouldn't let her do that!" she barked as she reluctantly sat down.

His grin slipped right off his face. "She needs someone right now."

"But her ex-boyfriend?" Rose said, scathing. "I really don't think you're the right person for the job, Scorp. Last time you spoke to her she said she hated you, and suddenly you're her new confidant? Something's not right there."

Scorpius sighed jadedly and rubbed at his eyes. "Can you just trust me this once, Rose? Please?"

She pouted and looked down at her nails moodily. "Alright. I don't see why _you_ still don't trust _me_, though."

"I do trust you. It's just not my place to say. And thanks," he smiled softly. "So, are you ready for this potions exam?" he asked as he piled some eggs onto his plate.

"No," she mumbled, heart sinking at the mention of 'potions'. "I. Hate. Potions. I really, really do. What possessed me to take it for NEWT?"

"Your desire to obtain a respectable, well-paid job after Hogwarts, perhaps?" he supplied. "Don't worry about it. You've revised loads – you're gonna do great."

"Fifth and seventh year students taking an examination this morning assemble in the entrance hall at once, please."

"Kill me now," Rose murmured, dropping her head onto Scorpius's shoulder in despair.

* * *

><p>Despite the theory part of the potions exam being an absolute killer, Rose found herself smiling during the practice exam where she had to create a cauldron of Amortentia which they'd done in class barely a month before. She happily greeted the calming scent of woodsy, books-y, apple pie-y goodness.<p>

Still, she was kicking herself afterwards for messing up her answer to the Golpalott's Third Law question and neglecting to mention one of the side effects of Felix Felicis.

But any thoughts about such petty things as exams vanished from her mind as she passed the courtyard and saw Scarlett and Scorpius there once again (_was that their not-so-secret meet up place or something?)_

Scarlett was hugging him, _looking extremely comfortable,_Rose noted. She leaned back to look him in the eyes and whispered, 'thank you' in the most sugary, emotional, pathetic voice Rose had ever heard. And then her face seemed to lean towards his.

Her heart plunged to her feet as her stomach spun itself into a frenzied knot.

"Again? Really?" Rose hissed, leaning back against the cool stone wall with her arms crossed.

Scorpius pulled away from Scarlett and snapped his head to look at Rose, surprised. "No, no, it's – she was just _hugging _me, Rose –"

"I don't know what to do anymore, Scorpius. I'm sick of this," she interrupted, shaking her head sadly. "I'm sick of being second best and getting messed around with. Just tell me if you're with Scarlett, for the love of Merlin, and I'll be fine with it. Really. I just need to know where I stand with you."

"Rose, nothing is going on –"

"Stop," she cried. "Please don't lie. I'm not stupid."

"Just let me explain!" he said desperately, stepping towards her.

"I don't have the energy for this anymore. This is just the icing on the worst day known to man. I've had enough."

"Erm, Scorpius," Scarlett cut in," I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but is this really a good time –"

Holding back the tears stinging at her eyes, Rose whirled around and sped away, ignoring the calls of her name and evading the footsteps attempting to follow her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** How'd you like it? What NEWT grade would you give this chapter? :P Please review if you get the chance! I know I took too long to update (_again_, but hey, at least it's less than a month) but I was having a bit of trouble with this chapter. The next one, though, is already written. :D

**Disclaimer: **I used chapter 31 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (entitled 'OWLs') to help me write the exam bit :)


	20. Priorities

**Chapter 20 – Priorities**

"Wakey, wakey!"

"Rise and shine!"

"What the…" Rose mumbled, cracking open a heavy eyelid. She then proceeded to scream the castle down.

"Alright, alright, calm it!" Dom warned, clamping her cousin's mouth shut. When Rose started getting saliva on her palm, she hastily removed her hand in disgust.

Sitting up and leaning against the headboard, Rose, as politely as possible, enquired, "What the hell are you two doing in my bed?"

She was currently sandwiched in between Lizzie and Dom – it was a miracle they were all able to fit on the one bed – who were both staring at her perturbingly. Rose felt very uncomfortable.

Dom ignored the question. "What happened yesterday, Rose?"

"Er, what do you mean?" she asked nervously. She did not want to think of last night right now. Damn them for waking her up and making her remember. At least when she was unconscious, frolicking in a dreamland involving cute baby unicorns tip-toeing through the tulips or whatever, she could forget.

"Rose," Lizzie began softly, "you came running into the dormitory looking fit for murder and yanked the curtains firmly around your bed, refusing to come out. _Something_must have happened."

"I don't want to talk about it," she murmured in a small voice. She hated how wobbly her voice sounded. She hated how pathetic and fragile she felt, just like that time after the ball… Something unpleasant lodged itself in her throat, making breathing a difficult task.

"This is so obviously to do with Scorpius," Lizzie commented with a sigh. Rose glanced up at her curiously.

"He's the only one that can make you like… this," Dom explained. She gestured at Rose's appearance: almost-pouting lips, downcast eyes and sagging shoulders.

Rose sighed too. "I saw him with Scarlett," she mumbled, "and they looked like they were gonna kiss, so I… ran away."

Lizzie gasped, chocolate eyes enlarging. "You poor thing."

Dom raised a blonde eyebrow. "So you didn't wait to see if they actually kissed?" Rose shook her head. Dom gave out a little laugh. "This sounds just like what happened in the Fifi LaFolle novel I'm reading."

"What happened next?" Rose asked, curious. Not that she wanted relationship advice from Fifi LaFolle of all people, of course; she was simply interested. Plus, those books were_ancient _– her grandma would've read them, if she had been into that sort of thing...

At least, that's what she told herself.

"The main character, Anastasia, ran off with the guy's older – and far better-looking, I might add – brother," Dom replied idly. "But anyway, Scorpius doesn't have a brother, so that plan's out of the question. He does have a rather fit father, though…"

"Okay firstly: EW," Rose said, pulling a face. "Secondly: I am not running off with anyone. My life is not a Fifi LaFolle novel, however exciting that would be."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Lizzie, resting a hand on Rose's shoulder.

"I don't know," she replied in earnest. "But right now I have zero tolerance for this extra drama and I just want to get my NEWTs done and dusted. Now, uh, do you two creepers mind getting off my bed?"

"Fair enough," Dom yawned, getting up and stretching, "but Malfoy is waiting outside the common room to speak to you."

"What?!" Rose cried. "He's… he's outside right now? And you never thought to let me know this earlier?"

"He's been there for a while," Lizzie added helpfully. "Best not keep him waiting, eh?"

"But you might want to brush your teeth first. Just a thought," Dom piped in.

Rose, rolling her eyes, quickly scrambled out of bed and into bathroom. With toothpaste dribbling down her chin, she re-entered the dorm and said indignantly, "Wait, why should I? I don't want to speak to him."

Lizzie was the first to answer. "Because you ought to hear him out. At least see what he has to say."

_I saw what he was about to do with my own eyes,_she thought bitterly. However, she reluctantly decided she would go to see him but only for a few minutes. She did have studying to do, after all.

Fully clad in a dressing gown and fuzzy blue slippers, along with sparkly clean teeth, she journeyed through the (fortunately empty) common room to see him. Before opening the portrait hole she paused to collect herself. He might not even be there – probably got bored with waiting.

"Scorpius?" she said quietly once she had passed through the portrait and came across a blonde boy with his back slouched against the wall a little way off. When he turned to look at her she suddenly felt very foolish in her Pygmy Puff dressing gown and bunny slippers. What had she been thinking?

She also couldn't help but notice the concerning purple bruises below his eyes. _Someone_hadn't been sleeping well.

"Oh, hi! I, uh –"

"You wanted to talk?" She tapped her foot impatiently, despite her being nervous about whatever he had to say.

"Yeah." He swallowed. "What you saw was – well, I understand how it _could_have looked, and that would look bad, I mean, if I saw you in that position, I would instantly assume –"

"Listen," Rose cut in, unimpressed, "I've got stuff to do, so I can't be here all day. Plus, I'm attracting some weird looks from the surrounding portraits."

She quickly looked away from a surly-looking dark-haired man, situated in a medieval portrait, who was giving her the same look she herself was giving Scorpius only a few moments before.

The traces of a smirk crossed his lips. "Well, you are wearing Pygmy Puff PJ's – wait. Sorry. Rose, this is going to sound completely daft, but… do you fancy being my girlfriend?"

Well. Where had_ that _come from?

His face had gone alarmingly red and he refused to look at her. Instead, he stared intently at the ends of his robes grazing the stone floor. If he_ did_look, he would have seen that Rose's face was almost as red as his; the tips of her ears were ablaze whilst her pulse began to quicken.

The strangest thought occurred to her: why did he choose now to ask her out, as she stood there with morning hair, sporting the completely 'natural' look and old, unflattering pyjamas on?

_Boy must be confounded._

"Excuse me?" she choked out.

He looked up, startled by her harsh tone.

"You – you think I'd go out with you now, after watching you spend so much time with Scarlett recently? I would never go out with you! What kind of girl do you think I am, Scorp?"

The both of them were horrified to find her eyes welling up.

"Well – you – but I'm not with Scarlett."

She let out a long shaky breath. "You may as well be."

"No, it's just that she's –"

Rose raised her hand to cut him off. "Ill. I get it. Look, just… leave it, alright? I don't want to go out with you."

She chanced a look up at his face to gauge his reaction. Hurt. Frustration. Embarrassment. Mostly just hurt.

"I can't deal with this right now, I've got exams to prepare for. I gotta go."

She whipped round and he attempted to follow, but she blocked him off at the portrait as she uttered the password.

"Bye Scorpius," she muttered as the portrait closed shut behind her.

In that moment, a wild Dom appeared. "You can't keep messing up someone else's feelings just because you're unsure of your own, Malfoy!" she yelled after him before slamming the portrait shut a final time.

"Excuse me, young lady! Have some respect!" the Fat Lady cried in outrage, obviously rattled at the mistreatment of the portrait in which she lived.

* * *

><p>Rose worked hard through her final exams, ever the diligent student. By then she was an expert at putting unwanted thoughts to the back of her mind. Whilst the majority of the other seventh years were almost certainly partying away to celebrate the end of exams, Rose had a well-deserved rest and a lovely long bath in the Prefect's Bathroom, thanks to her connections (Hayley, Lizzie's cousin, was a prefect and let slip the password). All she could do now was relax and wait until results day, which, although it seemed a lifetime away, would no doubt creep up on her and strike before she knew it.<p>

An excited atmosphere was starting to replace the burned-out one at Hogwarts and it was catching, even more so when Professor McGonagall announced an end-of-year prom. They even each got a formal invitation to attend, created by the Head boy and Head girl.

"I am so bloody excited!" screeched Dom, maiming Rose's ear in the process, as did the rest of the girls in their final year of Hogwarts. "We only had a ball a few months ago, and we get another one already! How lucky are we?"

"Very lucky," Rose smiled, Lizzie nodding in agreement. Rose truly was looking forward to it; feeling like a million galleons for an evening sounded good to her. She couldn't help but remember how the last ball had ended in tears, though, not to mention how she was very unlikely to have a date for this one…

Rose decided not to tell anyone that Scorpius had asked her out and her subsequent refusal (also known as the Most Awkward Moment of Her Life So Far). She felt heat pooling into her cheeks just _thinking _about it, let alone talking about it.

He hadn't sought her out, letting her complete her exams in peace, and for that she was grateful. Now that they were over, however, should she try and patch things up with him? Or was she better off without him..?

No. She definitely didn't believe that. They had got on so well before their stupid feelings had to go and get in the way.

A tap to the head pulled her out of her thoughts; a piece of parchment scrunched up into a ball landed on the table in front of her. Unravelling it, she read:

_R.W.  
>Meet me outside the kitchens in ten minutes. It's urgent.<br>S.B._

Who the hell was S.B.?

The only person that came to mind was Sirius Black, but... well, he had passed away a long time ago.

"Guess there's only one way to find out," Rose muttered under her breath as she stood up and exited the Great Hall.

* * *

><p>Surprisingly, Scarlett was leaning against the wall when Rose arrived outside the kitchen with her wand hidden up her sleeve (her imagination was very… <em>vivid <em>and she wanted to be able to defend herself if worst came to the worst).

"Scarlett?" Rose sputtered, recoiling at the sight of her. "What could _you_ possibly need to speak to me about that's so urgent?"

Rose wondered whether she was going to hex her into oblivion to ensure Scorpius would be hers forever, or something. Trying to take on a seventh year would be dumb; she wouldn't put it past Scarlett.

"You and Scorpius have fallen out," she declared.

"Erm…"

"Because you think there's something going on between me and him, so you yelled at him, wounded his ego and now you two won't speak to each other," Scarlett finished. "Am I right, or am I right?"

"Excuse me, what do you think gives you the right to get involved in my life?" demanded Rose frostily, hands on hips and all.

Scarlett let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, all I wanted to say is this: nothing's going on between me and your precious Scorpius."

"Oh, don't give me that," Rose snapped. "I saw you two together, kissing."

Scarlett shook her head with her lips curved into a sad smile. "Nope. Okay, so I may have pecked him on the cheek or something, but only in thanks for helping me. That''s the only reason I'm telling you all this now- he deserves to be happy, and for that to happen, you need to understand the truth. Merlin, I'm not so desperate that I'd go round trying to get a boy who quite obviously likes someone else."

Rose's eyes, cold as ice, narrowed. "What do you mean?" Who_ do you mean? Me?_

"Oh, sod off, you know who I mean."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Are you stupid or something?" Scarlett spat. Rose couldn't stop herself from blushing. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"I would appreciate that, yes."

Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Scarlett, you've always been all over Scorpius. I know what you're like, and you're so-called illness is the perfect opportunity for him to get all into his Healer mode and spend time with you and whatnot, and before you know it, _bam_; he's proposed." It was Rose's turn to roll her eyes.

"'So-called illness'? You may not know this about me, but I actually suffer from severe manic depression." She said it completely seriously as if it was some huge secret, which may have been comical in other circumstances, but Rose didn't even crack a smile. Of course she'd known it all along (or, at least, guessed it), but only now was she really starting to understand and feel sorry for Scarlett's suffering. She'd never really thought of Scarlett's bipolar as an illness before, just part of her crazy personality.

"They thought they'd found a cure at St Mungo's but I got a letter from my Healer recently and– nope, false alarm. Of course." She sighed deeply. "I really, really thought I'd be rid of it for once in my pathetic life."

"Hey, it could be worse, right?" Rose said unsurely, feeling more than a little awkward. "You don't have, like, dragon pox or anything fatal like that." _Was that the right thing to say?_

"You don't understand. I have these… manic episodes that are really hard to cope with. But the deep depression periods are even worse; you wouldn't want to know the kind of things that run through my mind. And sometimes I feel both at once and the ridiculous amounts of emotion are tough enough to deal with. I've had a lot more of them leading up to my NEWT mocks– my Healer says it's due to the extra stress or something – but either way it's not been fun or healthy for me.

"Scorpius was the only person that knew about them, so he was there to listen and stuff. He's a really good listener. And even then, he managed to mention you in conversation a few times. It is so obvious he likes you." Cue: more blushing, Rose Weasley style. "Merlin knows why, mind. So, to summarize: Scorpius and I are merely FRIENDS. F-R-I-E-N-D-S. He's helped me through a lot – calmed me down, taken me to Madam Pomfrey, been supportive and stuff. He's a really great guy. You're lucky, you know. For Salazar's sake, I can't believe I'm the one having to tell you this."

Right. Well, that changed things.

Rose felt ridiculously stupid and guilty, but very relieved at the same time. She also felt a burst of pride for Scorpius; trust him to care so much for an ex-girlfriend in need. Maybe part of her had always believed there was more to the story…

Then she realised they were both standing there in silence with Scarlett morosely picking dirt out of her nails and she had yet to respond to her heart-felt confession.

"Are you, er, getting on alright with it all?" Rose asked tentatively. She was not good in these situations. She definitely wasn't made to be a Healer- she'd leave all that to Scorpius.

Scarlett shrugged. "I s'pose. I feel pretty fine right now, in this moment, thanks to heavy doses of medication… but who knows the next time an episode will strike?"

Rose didn't know how to reply. Scarlett let out a long sigh.

"A-ny-way, I don't want your pity or anything, I'm coping just fine. Oh, and if you tell anyone, you're dead."

If the fierce look on Scarlett's face was anything to go by, Rose guessed that the threat was not at all empty.

Scarlett checked her watch. "Alright, I'm done here. I'm ten minutes late for potions now – Totternhoe's gonna kill me. Thanks a lot," she spat, rolling her eyes, before strolling down the corridor, heels clacking obnoxiously against the stone floor.

Luckily, Rose had a free period. She wasted no time in jogging all the way up to the seventh floor and coming to halt right outside the closed classroom door labelled '7A'. She was gasping for breath and felt rather like a sweaty tomato by the time she got there. She was unfortunate enough to pass Peeves the poltergeist on the way there who wasn't afraid to chortle in her face and let her know exactly what she looked like.

"Come on Rose, man up," she muttered under her breath when her legs suddenly turned to lead and she just could not force herself into that classroom. "Where's that Gryffindor courage when you need it?"

She was just considering dousing herself in the face with some nice icy water when the door flung open and out came Bertie McGee, the weird guy from her Muggle Studies class, looking quite alarmed at almost crashing into a living, breathing, giant tomato.

"Oh, hello there, Rose! I was just off to little gentlemen's room," he said after a short pause. "You're looking rather… vegetable-y."

"A tomato is a fruit, actually," she retorted breathlessly. "Everyone knows that."

After an indignant huff sent in Bertie's direction, she marched into the Arithmancy classroom and came to a halt near the Professor's desk, turning to face the whole class. There were about twelve students present, all seated towards the back of the room leaving the front ones vacated, and she soon spotted Scorpius after catching his voice, laughing loudly at something Al had said. She'd missed that laugh.

Gaping stupidly, she stood there as the seventh years paused mid-conversation to stare at her, faces contorted in curiosity and confusion. She ignored them all. Finally, after what felt like hours, Scorpius looked up and their eyes locked for the first time in weeks. His face was serious, jaw set and eyes unwavering, and the intensity took her by surprise. She felt a swooping sensation in her stomach.

"Can I help you, young lady?" enquired the Arithmancy professor, peering over her copy of the _Daily Prophet._

"Oh – er – sorry – I'm disturbing your lesson."

In reality, they were just dossing – chatting and playing wizard hang man on scrap bits of parchment – while Professor Vector skimmed an article (_the Weird Sisters to reunite after a long fifteen years apart!) _Exams were over and it was one of their last lessons of their last year at Hogwarts, after all. But Rose was too polite (and in a slightly agitated state) to point that out.

"Yes, you are."

"Sorry." Rose let out a nervous little squeak that loosely resembled a giggle. "But there's something I really need to say."

Professor Vector raised a greying eyebrow. "Well, by all means, feel free to share it with the class."

Her tongue turned to sandpaper as perspiration trickled down her cheek. She suddenly realised how attractive she must've looked at that moment and, to help the cause, turned even redder.

"I just wanted to tell Scorpius," she began, looking straight at the puzzled boy in question, "that I have been informed of the truth about the whole Scarlett misunderstanding."

"I'm listening," Scorpius replied, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms in a careless, easy way.

Rose fidgeted nervously with the frayed ends of her jumper sleeve. "I heard the truth, and I'm really sorry for being so stupid about the whole thing after everything that's happened. I swear this is the last time I act irrationally and don't ask for your side of the story."

Scorpius still looked impassive, not even blinking, lips parted slightly as he stared at her. Rose wondered whether his eyes were aching for moisture and he was just trying to out-stare her, or if he just had super-human eyeballs. The latter wouldn't have surprised her.

The rest of the class, including the professor, were glancing between the two of them with mild interest. The attention made Rose feel a bit silly, as if she was just a form of entertainment. Which, to them, she was.

"And... I also wanted to ask if we can start over? Again? You know, third time lucky and all that."

After an excruciatingly long pause, Scorpius rose from his seat and walked over to her at the front of the classroom, studying her with gradually softening eyes. "You sure this time?" he asked. "We'll work harder to get over our communication issues?"

Rose, rolling her eyes, nodded.

"In that case, the answer is yes," he answered, eyes twinkling. "Rose, I sincerely hope you know by now that it's always been you. Not Poppy, not Scarlett; you."

Those were the words that set off the fireworks in her heart. She was grinning like a fool as the whole class erupted into a chorus of 'aww's and Albus could be heard letting out a sigh of relief. Rose wasn't even aware of their audience anymore.

"It's always been you too," she stated simply, stepping towards him and enveloping her arms around his neck; his arms tightly wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. "I've never really had much choice in the matter."

"As touching as this little scene is, this is a classroom for learning, not the Witches' Romance Hour on the WWN," Professor Vector interrupted loftily with a hint of mirth in her voice.

"Yes Professor, sorry Professor." Scorpius grabbed Rose's hand (and Al chucked him his bag) and they exited the classroom.

"You're just walking out of a lesson?" Rose asked amusedly with a cocked eyebrow.

"Sure. What are they gonna do, expel me?"

_Rebellious. I like it. _She smirked to herself, and together they set off down the corridor.

"What are you smirking about?" he asked, peering at her curiously.

"Nothing." She smiled up at him innocently.

"You know, Rose, I really need to apologize," he said once they'd reached a cul-de-sac and decided to stop there.

"What for?"

"For being a bit of a prick. Look, I like you. A lot. I've told you before and I'll tell you again: I. Like. You. I can't contain this any longer; you're everywhere I go, always in my head, and it is driving me crazy. I've passed you a ridiculous amount of hints, but you're always too clueless to notice!"

_Surely it's impossible for a heart to beat this fast? _Rose thought idly as she stared at Scorpius in a daze.

He continued on, "I've liked you for a while, you know. I was just too chicken to admit it. So… yeah."

He'd liked her for a while? Did that mean even before the ball and while he was with Poppy and Scarlett? The air whooshed out of her lungs, leaving her breathless.

Before she knew it, he was leaning in towards her, faces far too close, and she instantly pulled back before anything could happen. She stared at him in alarm.

"Please say something, your silence is making me uncomfortable," he pleaded, brushing his fringe off his forehead.

She bit her lip as she thought about what to say. "Sometimes, I don't know if I trust you, Scorpius."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Wha – "

"I want to, I really do," she continued quickly. "But how you've treated me recently… I just don't know anymore."

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly, obviously upset.

"You've put Scarlett before me multiple times, not to mention stringing me along but failing to break up with her. But why?"

"Because I'm a stupid idiot, that's why!" he exclaimed.

"That's true… but no, really? Why go out with Scarlett in the first place?"

"I… well… you know, to play the jealousy card, so you knew what you were missing!" he blustered. She recoiled from his not-so-dulcet tone. "Well, at first anyway. A terrible, selfish reason, but it's true. But then I found out about her illness – did she tell you about that?"

"Yeah… wait, so you were basically using her? To get to me?" she asked incredulously. Scarlett was this beautiful Quidditch star whilst Rose, in her own humble opinion, was pretty plain with no spectacular talents. And yet Scarlett was the one who got used. She found it hard to get her head around.

Scorpius nodded, guilty eyes avoiding eye contact.

"But then she needed someone to look after her, being as weak and vulnerable as she was. I know, I know –" he added hastily at her expression, "she doesn't seem like it, but she is. She's ill. I wanted to break up with her, but she was at her very lowest and I guess I felt too cruel even thinking about it. I was... cowardly? Worried? Idiotic?"

"Sounds about right," Rose frowned.

"I've learnt from that now. I didn't treat you right and I made some stupid decisions, I know that. And I regret it. But unless you have a time turner on you, I can't exactly change the past now, can I?"

She shook her head sadly.

"I'm really, really sorry. And those aren't just some words – I mean it. Honestly, you mean so much more to me than Scarlett and I'm sorry if I haven't acted like it. I'm not perfect – hell, everyone makes mistakes and bad choices and I hope you'll accept that – but from here on out I want to make it up to you. Will you let me do that?"

His hopeful face was scrunched up in concentration as he waited for her answer. He looked as if whatever she said next would have the power to change everything. The ticks from the clock on the wall seemed to echo around them, unbearably loud.

She couldn't form words; she didn't know how she could possibly put what she was feeling into a coherent sentence. So instead, she took a few steps towards him so that they were less than a foot apart, close enough for her stomach to flood with butterflies and knees to turn to jelly, and looked into his pale grey eyes with a dopey smile on her face. He had his answer. Slowly, almost teasingly slow, she cupped his face with her hands and brought her face closer and closer to his until their lips were finally melded together.

Every nerve in her body was positively fizzing with energy, and every logical thought vaporised into hazy swirls as his hands reacted instantly of their own accord: one thrust into her hair and the other resting on her waist. She moved one hand from his cheek to the back of his neck to pull him even closer to her. Rose was in her happy place again; nothing else existed but the two of them caught up in each other. She just felt so _ecstatic _and free_, _like she was on top of the tallest mountain and if she reached up high enough, her fingertips could graze the soft blue watercolour of the sky. There were no consequences, now. No guilt. She was unable to stop a smile from forming which grew and grew until it was practically a toothy grin.

"I'm glad you're happy and all, but it's getting hard to kiss you when you're smiling so widely," Scorpius murmured, pulling away for a second to smirk at her beaming face. She let out a giggle before composing herself and pressing her lips urgently to his once more.

After all that pining and longing, she was finally kissing him without any guilt whatsoever.

And then they were pulling apart and it was over much too soon.

He stayed close, breathing hard, leaning his forehead against hers. "Does that mean you like me back, then?" he asked teasingly. She nodded and smiled coyly at him.

"I'm willing to try this out, but I don't want to be so low on your priority list this time, alright?" she said warningly.

"Of course. And if I do – which I won't – feel free to kick me. Hard. Where the sun don't shine."

"I'll be holding you on that one."

He shook his head in amusement. "All those months when we both liked each other, but neither would admit it, we could have spent more wisely."

"I swear you're more clueless than I am, though; I mean it was pretty clear to entire school that I wanted you to ask me to that stupid ball!"

"Ah, the ball that changed everything. Good times," he mused. "I was waiting for the right moment to ask you, but there was part of me that was so sure you'd say no. And then Poppy asked me to go with her, and that kind of foiled my plans completely."

"You just can't say no, can you?"

"I'm not very good at it," he admitted, "but I'd like to think I'm getting better."

"I think you are too," she said, resting her head on his chest. He tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "But if we ever have children, I can already tell that you're going to spoil them rotten."

She realised what was spurting out of her mouth too late and snapped her head up to look at him, wide-eyed, apologetic, but he just smiled amusedly.

"So when exactly did you realise you liked me? Was it before the ball?" Rose said quickly, desperate to change the subject.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Truthfully, I liked you the day I met you in first year. What can I say? -you're an intelligent, friendly person." Rose glowed with pleasure. "But, y'know, I was eleven years old. It was sometime in sixth year when I started wondering what it'd be like to kiss you. I couldn't get you out of my mind during the summer holiday, it was torture. Just imagine: me sitting on the sofa with my grandmother as she tells me fond memories of grandfather who was lying on his death bed, while all I can think about is you." He looked at her appraisingly. "When did you start liking me?"

Rose started to blush before she even answered the question. "I honestly have no idea. I've had on and off little crushes and stuff. For real, though? Probably around the beginning of this year."

She was about to mention all the strange, slightly creepy dreams she'd had that nearly all of which had co-starred him (the main star being the giant rubber duck, of course), but decided against it as she really didn't want to scare him off so soon.

"So, um, I really respect and admire you, Rose, and I was wondering… do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked, shaky voice brimming with hope. Rose wondered briefly whether he was thinking of the same thing she was, of that awful moment merely weeks ago when he had asked her the same thing, but out of the blue and with horrible timing.

"I'd love to," she replied eagerly, and he started to kiss her again, but slower and gentle this time, to seal the deal.

They heard a pair of footsteps approaching but took no notice of it; it wasn't past curfew and they were only kissing. It's not like there was a school rule forbidding it or anything - or at least, not that they knew of. So, of course, they were very surprised when a deep voice belted out an angry, "Oi!"

_For Merlin's sake, who could this be? _Rose thought, pulling back from Scorpius's warm lips.

"What do you think you're doing with my sister?" Hugo roared, folding his arms across his chest, looking aghast.

Rose flushed instantly; it was a pretty embarrassing situation for your little brother to catch you in.

"Kissing," Scorpius replied without delay, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, looking amused but also kind of annoyed at being interrupted. He kept his hands firmly on her lower back.

"But – Scarlett – you – no!" Hugo's face was turning an interesting shade of mauve. "Rose, I sincerely hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry, Hugh, I do," she replied in her most reassuring voice. "Scorpius is my boyfriend now."

_Merlin's most baggy Y-fronts… that felt good to say. He's my boyfriend! _Rose thought cheerfully.

"Alright. But you -" he looked sternly at Scorpius, "I'm going to be having a little talk with you later, got that?"

"Sure, Hugo," Scorpius replied, suppressing a chuckle. "Looking forward to it."

Hugo gave him an I'm Watching You hand gesture before strolling away after one last menacing glare over his shoulder.

"Wait, Hugo!" Rose called after him.

"What?" He turned around to look at her from the other end of the corridor.

"Er, don't tell Mum or Dad about this, will you? Especially not Dad… they don't need to know about this just yet."

"Alright," came his gruff reply after a pregnant pause.

Once he was out of sight, Rose caught Scorpius's eye and they both erupted into sniggers.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **We finally reached the big 2-0! I did not mean for it to get so long, but I was having so much fun writing it, haha. I hope it wasn't cringey. ~nervous to post it.~ Hopefully this qualified for the 'talk things out' thing that some of you have been asking for but if you're confused about something or think there's something I should add, please just say. I hope you enjoyed it & thanks for reading!

_Next chapter: end-of-year festivities!_

**Disclaimer:** I stole the 'a wild Dom appears' idea from Pokémon :P Couldn't resist!


	21. Sway

**Chapter 21- Sway  
><strong>The Great Hall was even more striking than usual with twinkling lights sprinkled all over, combining with the light from the stars above the Seventh year's heads to cast a soft silver glow around them. Scarlet and gold banners were still hanging proudly from the walls; Gryffindor had been declared as the House Cup victors of 2024 earlier that day.

As she stepped into the hall Rose was taken aback with the brilliance of it all over again. She felt like a flummoxed first year just before the Sorting ceremony, unable to believe that a place this beautiful could possibly be their_ school _for the next seven years. Seven years that go much quicker than you'd think.

There were over fourty people present, including several Professors, and she was one of the last to arrive. Dom had insisted they get themselves ready at least a few hours before seven o'clock, the starting hour after the End-of-Term Feast, and they'd left the dormitory at quarter to seven in their fancy attire, only for Hugo to 'bump' into Rose on the staircase and insist on taking numerous photographs of her, telling her friends to carry on without her. He forced his sister to model for a ridiculous amount of pictures, including some ridiculous actions and poses, which Rose had to endure with impatience.

"Mum and Dad made me promise," he grumbled under his breath. "Although, I _am_getting a good pay for this. You look really pretty, by the way, Rosie."

"Aw, thank you, hun," she beamed, throwing her arms around her brother (who was even taller than she was) and giving him a squeeze.

"Don't call me that," he whined, but he hugged her back just as tightly.

And so, as she tentatively entered the Great Hall, she realised that she was late and had no idea where her friends had got to. Stupidly, she had forgotten to make plans with Scorpius of where to meet, but she was in luck. She soon spotted him standing in the far corner of the hall with a smile on his face, watching Al and Lara dancing slowly together in the centre of the room, completely caught up with each other. How the teachers hadn't noticed Lara yet, Rose had no clue, as she was only a fifth year. Maybe they just didn't care. Rose certainly didn't mind. She'd never seen Al in such a smart get-up - he'd obviously made a conscious effort for Lara.

After a mere few seconds Scorpius' gaze slid over to meet hers, his smile slowly melting off his face as he looked at her._ That's a good sign, right?_She couldn't hold back the heat rising in her cheeks.

And then he was crossing the room towards her, pushing through the hectic crowd between them whilst Rose stood there feeling a little awkward, heart starting to pump faster as she inspected her well-manicured nails (Dom's handiwork). She pressed her lips together to hold back the grin that was forming. How overly-eager would she look, stood there grinning at him like a desperate idiot while he looked so serious?

But it was a completely different voice that first approached her – not her favourite warm and friendly one, whose sound never failed to fill her tummy with tumultuous butterflies – but one she hadn't heard in quite some time.

"Hey."

She looked up with confusion written all over her face. "Oh, hi Fabian."

"You look nice. Do you want to dance for a minute?" he asked quietly, giving his messy brown hair a scratch. She glanced over at where Scorpius had been a moment earlier, but he was lost in the crowd. Without waiting for an answer, Fabian took Rose's hand gingerly in his own and pulled her towards the throng of swaying figures. Rose was speechless with shock, caught off-guard, not knowing what to make of it.

It felt so wrong, being so close to Fabian again, like she was betraying Lizzie, Scorpius… herself. After a pause filled with discomfort at having his hands on her waist, so close to her, she asked him with a degree of caution, "so, where's Lizzie?"

"Over there," he replied, jerking his head towards the snack table where Lizzie was deep in conversation, a Butterbeer in her hand. His gaze lingered on what Rose guessed was Lizzie. "She's stunning, isn't she?"

Looking over at her best friend, Rose replied happily, "Yeah. Yeah, she is." She looked back at Fabian to observe his expression: he appeared completely captivated. "I'm glad you're happy together." He smiled in return but his eyes were still rested on Lizzie.

Elizabeth Martin had never had much luck with boys at Hogwarts, and Rose was delighted that she had finally found someone that honestly appreciated her for who she was, despite the hardly desirable circumstances in which they got together. She deserved it more than anyone, in Rose's opinion.

Rose counted five slow seconds in her head before she said, "So, why are you gawking at her when you could be dancing with her? What's up?"

"I dunno… nothing really. I guess I just wanted to say goodbye properly, get it over with. I hate goodbyes," he admitted, slightly bashful. "I wasn't sure if I'd have another chance to see you before we leave Hogwarts."

"Oh… well, that's sweet," she grinned. "Um, bye, then!"

He shook his head at her, chuckling. "What are your plans for after the summer?"

"I'm keeping my options open. Might apply for a job at the Ministry or something, but it depends on my NEWT grades really. How about you?"

He seemed to stand a little straighter as he replied, "I'm working as an intern at Dominic Maestro's music shop in Hogsmeade, and I also have a slot every Friday night to perform at the Three Broomsticks. You can, er, come to watch me if you want."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Wow! Sounds like you've got everything all planned out." Her voice squeaked at the end. Clearing her throat, she quickly decided now was not the time to fret about her own future.

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his neck and avoided looking her in the eye, but she saw a little smile playing at his lips.

"That's so great, Fabian. I'm really pleased for you."

He muttered his thanks in embarrassment and she smiled up at him. "Are you going round saying a proper goodbye to everyone, then?"

With a shake of his head, causing dark chunks of hair to flop onto his face, he replied, "Nah, not everyone. Just the important people."

"Important? I'm that important to you?" she asked, face displaying genuine surprise.

"Well, sure. You're my friend, and my girlfriend's best friend, and you were, well, my first kiss, so…" he blushed deeply. Rose, although flattered by the compliment, had a feeling he hadn't meant for that last bit to slip out.

Her lips parted slightly. His first kiss! She couldn't believe it. He was such a sweet, good-looking boy; surely there'd been more girls before her?

"I was your first kiss?" she asked softly.

He nodded once and suddenly became interested in something behind her head.

"That is so cute!" His face was the reddest Rose had ever seen it; she sympathized with him and decided to let the subject drop, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable, but before she could even think of what to say next they were interrupted.

"Excuse me," interjected Scorpius, overly-polite, cutting in between the two of them. He looked Fabian in the eye, daring him to defy. "Do you mind if I take my girlfriend from you now?"

Up close and personal, Rose confessed (only to herself, of course- an inflated ego was never a good thing) that Scorpius looked even better than he did from the other side of the hall. She bit her bottom lip as she looked him over.

Although Fabian looked a bit startled, he quickly responded with, "I – of course not. She's all yours."

Momentary understanding or an agreement of some sort seemed to pass between the two boys. Rose sensed a kind of tension in the air – _silly boys_, she thought with a roll of her eyes – and decided to intervene before they were stood there like that for the next century.

"Well, I guess you can let go of me now," Rose hinted, attempting to pry Fabian's arms off of her.

"Oh, uh, right," he muttered and moved away from her, triggering a small sigh of relief from both Scorpius and Rose. "Sorry."

"That's alright. See ya, Fabian." She offered him a benevolent smile before turning to her impatient boyfriend.

"See you," Fabian replied, but she did not hear him; his voice was lost in the pulsing beat of the music.

When she turned back she was greeted with Scorpius looking down at her intently, studying every detail of her face as if trying to memorize each feature. Self-conscious, she wasn't exactly sure how to react, so she decided to do the same to him. Expensive black-and-white dress robes, blonde hair artfully styled and what she could only describe as searing grey eyes… to Rose, he was without a doubt the best-looking person in the room.

Without warning, he reached a hand out and touched her chin, tilting her face upwards, prompting a small gasp of surprise from her at the contact. When he spoke, his voice was warmer than she had ever heard it. "Rose, you look…"

There was a long, pregnant pause.

"I look what?" she prodded, batting her long lashes and tucking a loose strand of copper hair behind her ear.

"I can't find the right word… um… pulchritudinous," he finally said with a slight smile. Rose raised an eyebrow. "I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence. And it's true."

"Erm… is that a compliment?" she asked unsurely. It didn't sound very pleasant.

"Of course. It means you're very beautiful."

And she felt like it, too. "Thanks," she breathed, suddenly feeling shy. "Looking rather, er, pulchritudinous yourself."

"Thanks," he grinned, eyes sparkling cheekily. Sliding an arm around her waist, he enquired in a voice barely above a whisper, "Would you like to dance, Miss Weasley? I never got the chance to dance with you at the last ball, if I recall correctly."

"But wouldn't you rather dance with- oh, I don't know, Poppy Parkinson? Or Scarlett Bell, perhaps?" she teased, mirroring his tone.

They glanced over to where Poppy was dancing animatedly nearby wearing a tight-fitted black dress, surrounded by not one, not two, but three males, all of whom were dancing like Flobberworms on steroids around her.

Scorpius shook his head, causing a piece of hair to fall in his eyes. "I learn from my mistakes, Rose," he said in a soft voice. "I'm not letting my opportunity pass by again."

Rose smiled. She laced her fingers through his and let him take her waist. They slowly revolved on the spot, hands entwined and eyes locked together.

"Not so bad, is it, dancing with a – what was it Dom used to call me… a slimy Slytherin Malfoy git? Merlin, that's a bit of a mouthful," he said after a few minutes of dancing, with a wink.

"Not at all. You're a surprisingly good dancer." As she looked into his smiling eyes, she realised she couldn't remember the last time she'd been this happy and untroubled. Perhaps after she'd received her brilliant OWL results two summers ago, or the times she and her family went on holiday together, or the other day when Scorpius finally asked her out…

"We're being awfully mushy, you know," Rose mused out loud, trying to hold back a laugh. "It must be quite a disgusting sight."

She wasn't particularly bothered by what people around her were thinking, though; she would have been perfectly content staying in that moment forever.

Smirking mischievously, he pulled her closer so that her head was hovering by his shoulder and gave the top of her head a kiss, lingering there to inhale the scent of her hair.

"Mm, you smell so good," he murmured.

"You sound like a bloody vampire," she answered distractedly, heart beating faster, as Scorpius had begun pressing delicate kisses against her skin: beside her eyelid, her cheek, and along her jawline.

"Scorp," she whispered hurriedly as his wandering lips continued down her neck, "we're in the middle of a room full of people. There are probably Professors watching."

She coloured at the thought. He grunted in response.

"Scorp," she said with more urgency, although she was finding that her concentration was waning with every passing second.

"Stop worrying. Do you want to go somewhere a bit more private?" Scorpius muttered into her ear.

Knowing her voice would come out awfully squeaky if she spoke, Rose settled for a brief nod and let Scorpius lead her out of the crowded Great Hall and outside the castle's front doors to a small opening behind some shrubberies.

_Someone's a little eager_, she thought mirthfully, as he wasted no time in wrapping an arm around her lower back and pulling her close, kissing her with a surprising force. Responding eagerly, she bit down on his lip and he let out a low moan.

She was winding her hands into his hair and pressing herself tighter against him when he suddenly said, voice raspy, "do you hear that?"

Rose held her breath and strained her ears, but was met only with silence.

"I don't hear –"

Scorpius yanked back a branch that was shielding them from view to reveal Bertie McGee, whose face was partly concealed by a large black camera.

"Say cheese!"

The flash was blinding.

"What the..?" Rose muttered, disoriented, with her arms still draped possessively round Scorpius's neck, his arm still holding her waist.

"What a great photo that'll make for the yearbook! Cheers guys!" Bertie exclaimed before scampering off to hunt down his next victims.

_Since when was there a Hogwarts yearbook?_was Rose's first thought. She certainly wasn't looking forward to seeing what other dreadful pictures of her Bertie could dig out.

"No! Bertie, wait!" she called after him, but to no avail. She groaned. "Oh, Merlin._ This_is how our classmates are going to remember me!"

"At least they'll remember your impeccable taste in men," Scorpius remarked.

She slapped him lightly on the chest and, after a short while of finishing off what they had started, they returned to the hall as inconspicuously as possible to get some drinks before resuming dancing. Luckily they were just in time for the hugely anticipated performance of one of Britain's most famous Wizarding pop bands.

Dom passed Rose and Scorpius on several occasions with a different person hanging on her arm each time, even though she had come to the prom with, surprisingly, Lorcan Scamander, as she thought he 'deserves another chance'.

"Some people never change," Rose reflected to Scorpius with a dramatic sigh, flicking her head in her cousin's direction with a smile.

Towards the end of the evening the Head Boy and Head Girl made brief speeches about how much they had loved being the Heads and how they'd miss everyone. Afterwards, the teachers went round wishing the students luck in their future careers. Rose had a long discussion with her favourite Professor, Flitwick, and even Professor Wright cheerily offered her his congratulations and slipped a packet of Muggle Haribo Starmix into her purse.

All in all, it was one of the best nights Rose had ever had. Never had she laughed so much in one evening. She honestly couldn't imagine how it could possibly have gone any better, and it was without a doubt an improvement on the last ball she had attended a few months earlier.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Fluff overload :P 1 chapter left methinks :) Thanks so much for reading! And thanks for the lovely reviews last chapter! You guys are the best :3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Haribo, although I wish I did. They are yummy.


	22. Bloom

**A/N: **So sorry for the wait! School + being inept at endings = slow update.

* * *

><p>In the pastel-grey sky an owl soared low over the castle, weaving through the many towers and turrets before making its descent over the sloping lawn. It settled on a makeshift signpost erected on a vegetable patch.<p>

Rose watched the bird on its journey until it was out of sight. She turned her attention to the castle itself, majestic and towering and indescribably beautiful. Tears stung her eyes as the realisation of _leaving Hogwarts_overcame her. A place where so many friendships had been created over the years, where countless memories had been made. It was her home.

Looking at it now, squinting, she could make out the bench just off the main doors where she'd caught Poppy reading that letter about her father which had changed their relationship completely. Further away would be the courtyard where she kept seeing Scorpius and Scarlett. Nearer to her were the various trees lining the Black Lake, where she had spent hundreds of afternoons full of laughter with friends. Every aspect of the place brought back a rush of memories resurfacing for the first time in her head. She'd miss it all, right from the old stone floors to the fairy-tale turrets.

Trailing her fingers along the icy water's surface, Rose smiled and turned away.

She was in a little boat, the ones first-years are herded into when they first enter Hogwarts. But this time the boats were carting students away from the school, rather than bringing them in. It was some kind of school tradition, and Rose could see why; there wasn't a single view of Hogwarts quite like the one you got from the Black Lake. It was the perfect place to say goodbye.

Lizzie laid her head on Rose's shoulder as the school song resonated across the lake, completely tuneless, completely meaningless now, but at the same time meaning so much to them.

* * *

><p>"We're never coming back again, ever. Can you believe it?" murmured Lizzie as she watched the outline of Hogwarts retreat into the distance.<p>

"I know," agreed Dom. "It feels so weird that come September, when everyone else will be going back, we won't be joining them. I think I'll be in Greece by then, actually."

"Greece? That's lucky. I'll be going back to school," said Scorpius.

"To train to become the best Healer St Mungo's has ever seen," said Rose fondly.

"It's so exciting though, isn't it?" Lizzie exclaimed. "I'll be working with animals, Dom'll be touring the world, Scorpius will Heal people, Al will teach people, and Rose… you'll be just amazing in whatever you end up choosing to do!"

Lizzie's hesitation didn't go unnoticed by Rose. A few weeks earlier Rose had applied for a summer job at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley while she waited for her NEWT results, but got no response. She felt a bit pathetic being the only one with no future laid out in front of her. She just believed that she hadn't seen enough of the world yet to decide exactly what she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing.

"They said they'd send the letters out today," Rose cut in tonelessly. "They didn't even bother sending me a letter of rejection."

"You were too good for that job anyway," stated Dom as she flicked a page of her magazine. "Stacking books all day? You can do so much better than that. It's their loss."

"I know, but you have to start somewhere," Rose replied miserably. "I don't care what I've got to do, as long as I _have _something to do."

Lizzie put her hand on Rose's arm. "Don't worry. Something'll come along eventually."

"Lizzie's right. Don't give up hope just yet- maybe the owl got lost," Scorpius added, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I hope so," she said softly as she nestled into his side.

They began breaking off into separate conversations but Rose wasn't listening. She was watching each of her friends in turn, seeing how completely composed they all were; they didn't seem the teensiest bit worried about the future.

She finally turned to look at Scorpius, and wasn't even surprised when she saw he was staring right at her. He mouthed 'you okay?' to which she nodded and tried for a smile. She averted her gaze to the window and pretended to be interested in the tedious rural views flashing by.

What was going to happen next? Where would they go? Would she still be with Scorpius a week, a month, a year, a decade from now? Would they even ever see each other again, out in the real world? These thoughts kept whirring through her mind, making her dizzy, and they were so cogent, so real, that Rose was unable to block them. It wasn't fair that they were about to be wrenched apart after only just getting together. Their timing was horrible, to say the least.

Her saviour came in the form of the trolley lady's voice ringing from outside their compartment. Rose eagerly scrambled up, thankful for the excuse to leave.

"Oh, come on. Give me a break! This is seven knuts we're talking about!" Poppy hissed just as Rose approached the trolley.

"I'm sorry, dear," came the calm reply of the elderly trolley lady, "but if you don't have the money, you can't have the sweets. That's just how it works, pet."

A low grumble erupted from the back of Poppy's throat. Her eyes darkened dangerously. Rose reckoned it was time to intervene.

"Here, seven knuts." Rose reached into her pocket and dropped the coins into the lady's hand while avoiding Poppy's gaze.

"Weasley? Wh – I don't need your money. I can pay for myself." She tried to make the lady hand the money back, but Rose wouldn't have it.

"As you said, this is seven knuts we're talking about. It's nothing, really." Rose glanced into Poppy's angry eyes and watched as they softened just a little around the edges.

Poppy sighed heavily. "You know what – whatever. Thanks, I guess."

She grabbed her confectionaries, flipped her hair over her shoulder and began retreating down the corridor – but came to a halt halfway down and called, "Have a good summer, Weasley."

"You too, Parkinson."

For the second time and second time only in Rose's life, she was given a genuine smile by Poppy Parkinson.

Eventually the Hogwarts Express rolled up into King's Cross station and a quick glance out of the window let Rose know that both her parents had come to collect her. At least she would only have to drop the bomb once. Everyone had a good stretch before collecting their luggage and shuffling towards the platform to say their final goodbyes, something that Rose had been dreading for a while. Goodbyes were always so depressing and awkward.

"Well," said Dom, as she reached up to get her trunk. "I guess this is it, you guys."

"Yeah," Lizzie sniffed. "Time for us to leave."

Slowly, they began to make their way out of the compartment – and a second later thought better of it, flinging their arms around each other in a group hug.

"I'm gonna miss you both!"

"I love you guys!"

"Promise to meet up soon!"

Rose only let go of them when Albus's voice floated through the doorway. "Are you lot coming or what?"

"Al!" Rose cried, voice coming out as a breathless whisper, as she pounced on her favourite scruffy-haired emerald-eyed boy. He was knocked backwards from the force (not that it took much to budge Al's skinny frame).

"Oh, hey Rosie. Er, what's this for?"

"I miss you already," she mumbled into his shoulder. How long would it be before she saw him again, now that they'd be going off on their separate ways?

Her brows knitted together and she refused to let him out of her grasp.

"Aw, don't get all sentimental on me. C'mon, we'll see each other tomorrow at the Burrow. We'll survive till then, yeah?"

Reluctantly she let him go, but only because Lara was watching them from a few metres away looking anxious and upset, obviously waiting to speak to Al.

Scorpius took Al's place and offered his hand for Rose to take. "Ready?" he asked.

"No," she sighed, but slid her hand into his and allowed him to lead her off the train anyway. With his free hand he waved his wand and both of their trunks began trailing after them.

Her mother was standing nearby coddling Hugo while her father was grinning at him with an arm placed proudly on his shoulder. Nervously she approached them, gripping onto Scorpius's hand as if it was her safety anchor.

"Mum? Dad?" she began quietly.

Their faces lit up when they saw her.

"Rosie!" She was engulfed with warm squishy hugs, the kind that only parents can give.

But before she could get a word in, a tawny owl swooped onto the scene and dropped a letter into Rose's arms before flying off again.

"What the..?" Rose mumbled, turning the envelope over. It was addressed to her.

She looked up disbelievingly, first at her mother and then at Scorpius, before tearing it open and scanning the contents of her letter.

Rose placed a hand over her racing heart.

"Well?"

"I've got it," she whispered. "I've got the job!"

A cheer erupted from the small group, attracting a few curious looks from nearby families.

"I knew you would," Scorpius whispered in her ear.

She grinned up at him. "Maybe it did get lost after all."

"Hi, Scorpius!" Hermione beamed and gave him a quick hug. "Lovely to see you." She raised an eyebrow at their intertwined hands, ever the perceptive parent.

"And you. You too, Mr Weasley." Scorpius put on a brave front and held out his hand to the older man, shaking his hand jovially.

Well, it was now or never. If Scorpius could be so brave, then surely Rose could too.

Gulp.

"Mum, Dad… Scorpius and I are going out now," Rose announced with as much confidence as she could muster. Inwardly she braced herself for an explosion, a volcanic eruption; the Third Wizarding War…

"About bloody time, isn't it?" her father said immediately, much to her surprise, at the same time her mother cried, "Congratulations!"

No grumbles of disapproval? No angry rants full of expletives inappropriate for innocent ears? Rose was speechless. Maybe she'd underestimated her parents' tolerance.

There was actually a hint of _amusement _in her father's voice: "Even I could sense the tension between the two of you over the last few years; it was getting quite frustrating actually."

"Dad!" Rose spluttered, flushing the colour of beetroot.

"Ron!" her mother hissed.

Hugo was doubled over with laughter, unable to contain himself. Even Scorpius, whose eyes had also widened in alarm, was at least a little amused, sporting a small smirk.

"What? It's true! Nevertheless, Scorpius, I'll be having a little chat with you _very _soon."

Rose tried to laugh it off but still squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Rose, love, we'll wait over there while you say goodbye to your friends, alright?" Hermione said kindly, and with a roll of her eyes, she shepherded her husband and son away before they could humiliate Rose further.

Scorpius didn't waste a moment before springing on her. "So what was up with you on the train? Are you okay? It wasn't just about the bookstore job, was it? It's not like you to be so… broody."

"It's nothing," she answered, biting her lip. Her thoughts were silly - inconsequential. She'd get over it soon enough. Wouldn't she?

He stared at her in _that _way again, as if he was trying to decode her mind. Unsurprisingly he found he was having a hard time; she could hardly sort out her thoughts herself. Luckily for her, he was no Legilimens.

"What are you thinking?"

She was caught off guard by the question. "I… I'm scared. I don't want to go."

He smiled sadly. "Me neither. I'll miss it. But it won't be so bad. We'll have each other, won't we?"

She bit her lip. "That's what I've been wondering about lately… we'll be so bogged down with starting our new jobs – that is if I ever manage to get an actual job – and, oh Merlin, what if we live really far away from each other? We'll never get to see each other. I don't want to go into a future without you in it, and that scares me." She willed herself not to cry, swallowing the lump quickly forming in her throat.

"Is that what's really worrying you?" he asked, startled. She nodded feebly, embarrassed, and he took her hand. "Rose, I won't be letting you get away from me that easily. We can always apparate, remember? We're free from Hogwarts, now – we can do whatever we like! Whether you like it or not, despite whatever may happen, I'm here to stay. Alright?" One side of his mouth was quirked upwards in a half-grin in a way that made Rose's stomach fill with butterflies.

She smiled, but still wasn't wholly convinced.

Scorpius took her chin gingerly in his hand and turned her head to look at him, her blue eyes large and vulnerable. "I don't want us to rush into things, and I know it's way too early to even_ think _about moving in together, but if you want… we could, er, get apartments real close. In the same town or city. Merlin, we could move into the same building if that's what you want. It doesn't really matter where; as I said, we can apparate to work. You can choose the area, if you'd like," he said gently.

"You'd let me choose where you live?" she asked, voice barely audible, heart skipping a beat.

"Sure, I'll go wherever you go. There's no need to worry about never seeing each other, okay?" he said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

A wide smile spread over her face. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest, clutching him so tightly that she thought they might get stuck together permanently. On second thoughts, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea; she'd certainly not have to worry about never seeing him again if that were the case. She inhaled deeply and he held her tighter, assuring her that everything would be okay.

She decided to take his word for it and just enjoy the present, accepting that whatever would come, would come.

"You're amazing, do you know that?" she said, sighing in contentment.

"Not as amazing as you."

She rolled her eyes and grinned. Then he kissed her softly on the nose and grinned back.

"This is just the start, y'know? It doesn't all end here."

"I couldn't agree more. You've gotta owl me every week, alright? Or even more often – I mean, only if you feel like it, I don't want to be overbearing… and you could come round to mine, or I could go to yours – I'd love to see your parents again – or we could meet up somewhere and –"

"Rose, calm down," he said, firmly grabbing her shoulders in an attempt to soothe her hysteria. Her mouth clamped shut. "Worrying won't change anything. I'll owl you in a few days, okay?"

"Okay," she breathed, and he leant in to kiss her on the cheek.

She rapidly felt her old self returning, and teasingly she said, "A peck on the cheek? Is that all I get to remember you by?"

Scorpius raised his eyebrows and smirked, leaning forward to whisper into Rose's ear. "I'm afraid that's all I can offer you right now. Your parents are watching and I think we've given them enough excitement for one day."

Rose pouted, but then thought better of it and nodded in understanding. "I'll miss you."

"You too."

"Even more than Al, your – what do you call each other again – 'bro for life'?" she laughed.

"Even more than Al," he confirmed. "Though, don't tell him I said that."

"I will. Bye, then."

"Bye, Rose."

She nodded, turned around, and began walking away – and was soon pulled back towards him, his mouth on hers and her hands in his. She felt herself relax completely despite her heart hammering just as hard as it had the first time he'd kissed her, any anxieties washed away by the heat forming between them. There was no urgency or hunger; they knew it wasn't really goodbye. It was sweet and gentle, more of an 'until next time'.

"I couldn't help myself," Scorpius admitted sheepishly once they'd pulled away, running a lazy hand through his hair.

She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes, listening to his steady heartbeat and feeling the tension she'd been carrying in her shoulders since waking up seep away. "Thank you, Scorpius," she said softly, just loud enough for him to hear. What exactly she was thankful was, she wasn't sure. Perhaps just for always being there whilst everything around her was changing; for being her friend. She tightened her arms around him.

"Sure," he eventually said, twirling a coppery chunk of hair around his fingers. If the earnest expression he bore as he looked at her was anything to go by, he knew exactly what she'd meant. "Anything for you, Rose."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>  
>And we have finally reached the end of my first story ever. I hope you liked the ending! I can't believe I got this far, and it's all down to your lovely, encouraging reviews. Thank you so much, especially to those who have been around for a while!<p>

At the moment I've got no plans for a sequel or anything, but who knows? Currently I'm working on 2 other stories that will get a lot more of my attention now Oblivious is over, so if you're interested check 'em out ;)

Special thanks to all the readers who've read up to this point!

Review one last time?


End file.
